Rain falleth from heaven like rare pennies
By Frank Bradley Sentinel writer

Glen Love is the official weather man in these parts. He's been keeping a record on rainfall for years now, but for the past year or two he hasn't seen as much of that wet stuff as earlier.

This week, the Sentinel talked to Glen about the recent rain to see if it is beginning to put a dent in our mountain drought. Glen said he measured about a third of an inch of rainfall on Monday evening, and about an inch and a half over the Thanksgiving weekend.

"It's not enough," he said. "We're still about 15 inches below normal."

Glen said he has a pond and two springs, which have dried up. "The rain put a little water back in the pond," he said, "but unless we get some more rain soon, I don't expect it to be there long." He said every time he takes a bath, he's concerned that his well will run out of water.

Sue Renna-Waters of Warne has also experienced water trouble. She has two drilled wells and says she has been watching the amount of water she uses for the past two years she has lived here. Thanksgiving week-end, she ran out of water and had to haul it in to have enough to flush the toilet. She and her daughter and son-in-law, who are visiting from California have had to take "navy showers," soaping down and then rinsing off, but now they can't even do that. She's waiting for a well man to come out and check out her water system again. "It's very discouraging," she said.

John Miller, who owns Miller Well Drilling, told the Sentinel that by and large, the drought is not adversely affecting homeowners with drilled wells.

"It's mostly folks with springs and bored wells," he said. The reason for that is they get their water from rain that has accumulated from the past year or two that soaks down into the ground until it hits bedrock, where it tends to pool up. Bored wells, which have a diameter of 24 to 30 inches, only go down as far as the bedrock, without regular seasonal rainfall, that water tends to be used up, and the well goes dry.

Miller said most newer wells that have been established in the last 30 or so years have been drilled into the bedrock and go much deeper where the water level has seeped through the tiny pores in the rock and accumulated over many years. He said because of that they are not as much affected by a few dry seasons. He said winter time is when we need the rain to build up the water table.

"Summer rains mostly evaporate," he said. "It's the rains in winter that soak into the ground and raise our water table. We've not had a lot of wet winters in the last four or five years. That's why we're seeing springs and shallow wells dry up."

Miller said calls from folks with water concerns have been a little higher than normal this year. "With all the recent publicity about water concerns in Georgia and other states, people here have had more concerns," he said. "We can do an annual well check to help alleviate some of those concerns and for folks peace of mind. It's a 15-point check looking at such things as the electrical and pump system and things like common contaminants and bacteria."

While many folks in Clay County are not greatly affected by the drought and low water level, some are and they are conserving their consumption of water use. Perhaps like Georgia's governor Sonny Perdue, they, too, are praying for rain.

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