by Laura Conaway

With severe drought conditions persisting in the Southeast, the town of Orme, Tenn., is down to three hours of water a day. People there can turn the tap on in the evenings for laundry, cooking, cleaning and showers — turn it on and hurry it up. The town had relied on a mountain spring that dried up in early August and hasn't bounced back.

Awhile back, we did a pilot segment on the parched region, and noted that even though people talk about how terrible any given drought can seem, you can always turn on the faucet and expect good water to come out. Until you can't. One local had this warning for the neighbors:

"All of these people that are on the river systems better take note, because once your streams and tributaries to the river start drying up, the river isn't far behind."