Water supply is good for the area, for now

TUPELO - Drink up.

There's plenty of water for customers of the Northeast Mississippi Regional Water Supply District, according to Calvin Abernathy, an engineer with Cook Coggin Engineers who works with the district.

But a Louisiana scientist who studies the climate says that if the droughts spread north of Tennessee, there could be cause for concern.

Right now most of Northeast Mississippi is listed in the middle of a once-in-30-year-drought. Even the rains earlier this week haven't done much to alleviate the dry conditions. That's because it will take 10-15 inches of rain to break the drought, weather experts say.

Usually, that kind of rainfall shortage means taking conservation measures, such as no watering of grass, no washing cars and no watering gardens.

"I don't know that we will have to take conservation measures," Abernathy said earlier this week.

The NMRWSD supplies customers in Tupelo, Fulton, a couple of rural water districts in Itawamba County, and industrial parks in Lee County served by the Bluebird Utilities, recently purchased by Tupelo.

The rest of the region pulls its water from the Eucaw McShan aquifer, which is said to have an ample supply of water.

About 12 years ago, state hydrologists noticed that the rapid growth of the Tupelo area had depleted the aquifer at a faster rate than anticipated. Environmental officials in Jackson developed a way for Tupelo and a few other areas to pull water from the Tombigbee River to preserve the aquifer.

"We understand that it's coming back up," Mayor Bill Williams of Saltillo said about the aquifer, which a portion of Saltillo still uses.

Tombigbee source
Here's why: Customers of the district get their water from the Tombigbee River, which flows on the eastern border of the region. Its associated Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway must have enough water for navigation, Abernathy said.

The river also must maintain enough water to supply 30-35 million gallons per day for the NEMRWSD.

The Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway is a connecting link between established water transportation routes that serve shippers and producers in the South and the Midwest as well as deep-water ports along the eastern Gulf of Mexico.

The 234-mile waterway begins at Pickwick Lake on the northern end and flows into the Tombigbee River and on to the Gulf Coast near Mobile, Ala. The waterway is fed from a series of rivers that flow through the Tennessee Valley, reaching as far up as Ohio and west into the Mississippi River system as well.

Abernathy estimates an extreme drought over most of Tennessee, Kentucky, the Carolinas and on up into Ohio and other regions would have to occur before the Tenn-Tom would be in danger of falling below the minimum flow set by the Corps.

It's dry up north

However, Luigi Romolo, a climatologist at LSU in Baton Rouge, La., has studied drought conditions in the Southeast and farther north. Most of Tennessee and the Carolinas have been dry as of late. Indeed, a great deal of south-central and southeastern Tennessee is listed as extreme to exceptional drought conditions, a once-in-50-years event as have parts of of Northeast Mississippi, including portions of Itawamba and all of Monroe county. The rest of Northeast Mississippi is in the extreme drought region of 30-year occurrences.

"It looks pretty bad, pretty much," Romolo said.

The Carolinas aren't so bad. And farther north is dry but not extremely so - good news for portions of the watershed.

"Actually, the Tenn-Tom has been pretty stable," he said.

Romolo said the waterway is more difficult to gauge than a river because of the lock and dam systems. However, his educated guess is that water customers have nothing to worry about right now.

As far as rain in the forecast, there's a slight chance of thunderstorms - no more than 30 percent - over the weekend and into early next week. Temperatures will be in the mid-80s to mid-90s.


TUPELO - Drink up.

There's plenty of water for customers of the Northeast Mississippi Regional Water Supply District, according to Calvin Abernathy, an engineer with Cook Coggin Engineers who works with the district.

But a Louisiana scientist who studies the climate says that if the droughts spread north of Tennessee, there could be cause for concern.

Right now most of Northeast Mississippi is listed in the middle of a once-in-30-year-drought. Even the rains earlier this week haven't done much to alleviate the dry conditions. That's because it will take 10-15 inches of rain to break the drought, weather experts say.

Usually, that kind of rainfall shortage means taking conservation measures, such as no watering of grass, no washing cars and no watering gardens.

"I don't know that we will have to take conservation measures," Abernathy said earlier this week.

The NMRWSD supplies customers in Tupelo, Fulton, a couple of rural water districts in Itawamba County, and industrial parks in Lee County served by the Bluebird Utilities, recently purchased by Tupelo.

The rest of the region pulls its water from the Eucaw McShan aquifer, which is said to have an ample supply of water.

About 12 years ago, state hydrologists noticed that the rapid growth of the Tupelo area had depleted the aquifer at a faster rate than anticipated. Environmental officials in Jackson developed a way for Tupelo and a few other areas to pull water from the Tombigbee River to preserve the aquifer.

"We understand that it's coming back up," Mayor Bill Williams of Saltillo said about the aquifer, which a portion of Saltillo still uses.

Tombigbee source
Here's why: Customers of the district get their water from the Tombigbee River, which flows on the eastern border of the region. Its associated Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway must have enough water for navigation, Abernathy said.

The river also must maintain enough water to supply 30-35 million gallons per day for the NEMRWSD.

The Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway is a connecting link between established water transportation routes that serve shippers and producers in the South and the Midwest as well as deep-water ports along the eastern Gulf of Mexico.

The 234-mile waterway begins at Pickwick Lake on the northern end and flows into the Tombigbee River and on to the Gulf Coast near Mobile, Ala. The waterway is fed from a series of rivers that flow through the Tennessee Valley, reaching as far up as Ohio and west into the Mississippi River system as well.

Abernathy estimates an extreme drought over most of Tennessee, Kentucky, the Carolinas and on up into Ohio and other regions would have to occur before the Tenn-Tom would be in danger of falling below the minimum flow set by the Corps.

It's dry up north

However, Luigi Romolo, a climatologist at LSU in Baton Rouge, La., has studied drought conditions in the Southeast and farther north. Most of Tennessee and the Carolinas have been dry as of late. Indeed, a great deal of south-central and southeastern Tennessee is listed as extreme to exceptional drought conditions, a once-in-50-years event as have parts of of Northeast Mississippi, including portions of Itawamba and all of Monroe county. The rest of Northeast Mississippi is in the extreme drought region of 30-year occurrences.

"It looks pretty bad, pretty much," Romolo said.

The Carolinas aren't so bad. And farther north is dry but not extremely so - good news for portions of the watershed.

"Actually, the Tenn-Tom has been pretty stable," he said.

Romolo said the waterway is more difficult to gauge than a river because of the lock and dam systems. However, his educated guess is that water customers have nothing to worry about right now.

As far as rain in the forecast, there's a slight chance of thunderstorms - no more than 30 percent - over the weekend and into early next week. Temperatures will be in the mid-80s to mid-90s.

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