Residents in Luminary Low on Water

LUMINARY, Tenn. (WDEF) — Private wells in Luminary have dried up.

“This is the worst I’ve seen it since I’ve been up here,” said resident Andy McMillen.

McMillen and Charles Clark are waiting to pick up water for their homes.

Their community is being hit hard by this severe drought.

“When the well keeps going dry,” McMillen said. “When you end up with a choice of either get a shower or wash your hair, and well, I can deal with dirty hair. I can’t deal with my body stinking.”

“We don’t have any idea when it’s going to rain,” Clark said. “I mean, we don’t know when relief’s coming. It’s rough. I’ve got a house with six people in it, and I mean, we flush our toilet once a day. You know what that’s like to flush your toilet once a day? It’s gross.”

Residents tell News 12 it’s a recurring problem.

Water dries up here every year, but it’s worse this year.

They prepare by gathering water, but they can only do so much.

“I’ve got anywhere from 1500 to 1900 gallons of water usually. My tanks are completely dry. We’ve gotten to the point where we start trucking water in,” Clark said.

“Catch rainwater as much as you can. I’ve got 55 gallon drums that I fill up at home if it rains, but almost three months no rain? Nothing you can really do,” McMillen said.

So they buy as much water as they can, and take advantage of this 1000 gallon portable water tank, which nearby cities help to keep full.

Residents hope their community can get its own well to help with the problem.

“All they’d have to do is put in a well, or maybe put in a pump at one of the creeks that just don’t run dry so people can back up and fill their tanks and keep water going,” Clark said.

For now, the city of Dayton will provide water in the portable tank on an ongoing basis.