GROUND WATER IN NORTH-CENTRAL TENNESSEE
GROUND WATER IN NORTH-CENTRAL TENNESSEE
GROUND WATER IN NORTH-CENTRAL TENNESSEE
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156 <strong>GROUND</strong> <strong>WATER</strong> <strong>IN</strong> <strong>NORTH</strong>-<strong>CENTRAL</strong> <strong>TENNESSEE</strong><br />
Buffalo River about 2 miles upstream from the confluence of the<br />
Buffalo and Duck Rivers and about 4 miles S. 60° E. from the spring!<br />
The only adequate source for the large amount of water flowing from<br />
the spring during the period of minimum ground-water discharge is<br />
the Duck River or the Buffalo River from some point or points up<br />
stream from the orifice of the spring. However, the water can not<br />
flow directly from the intake area to the orifice, for although both<br />
the Buffalo and Duck Rivers were extremely turbid when observed<br />
by the writer, the effluent from the spring was clear, even though its<br />
velocity at the orifice was much greater than that of the surface<br />
streams. Hence the system of solution channels intervening between<br />
intake and orifice must store enough water to permit all the suspended<br />
matter to settle, even though the average gradient of the channels<br />
is presumably at least as steep as the gradient of the surface streams.<br />
Consequently, the zone of cavernous limestone drained by the spring<br />
must be relatively extensive, and the "whirl" may be only one of<br />
several points at which water enters the zone.<br />
Other typical springs and wells of Humphreys County are described<br />
by the tabulated data on pages 159-163, and the chemical charac<br />
ter of the ground water is represented by the analyses given on<br />
pages 112-113.<br />
MUNICIPAL <strong>GROUND</strong>-<strong>WATER</strong> SUPPLIES<br />
Waverly. The town of Waverly derives its municipal water supply from a<br />
drilled well (No. 167), owned by the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway<br />
and leased to the Tennessee Utilities Co., of Waverly. The well, which is 8 inches<br />
in diameter and 32 feet deep, is on the north bank of Trace Creek and obtains its<br />
water from the weathered and channeled St. Louis limestone approximately at the<br />
level of the creek. The chemical character of the water is shown by analysis 167<br />
(pp. 112-113). The well is equipped with two electrically driven pumps, each of<br />
which has a capacity of 50 gallons a minute, which raise the water to an 18,000-<br />
gallon wood-stave pressure tank about 125 feet above the well on a hilltop a<br />
quarter of a mile south of the town. The water is sterilized with chlorine as it<br />
passes through the pumps. The distribution system embraces about 2>£ miles<br />
of mains ranging from 1 to 2}4 inches in diameter and supplies water by gravity<br />
at a maximum pressure of 80 pounds to the square inch. The draft on the system<br />
generally ranges from 40,000 to 45,000 gallons a day, a quantity which probably<br />
approaches the ultimate capacity of the well during periods of minimum ground-<br />
water discharge. Hence some additional source of water will be essential if the<br />
demand is increased by future growth of the community.<br />
Several possible sources of ground water to supplement the present supply of<br />
Waverly exist; these are (1) drilled wells in the limestone in the vicinity of<br />
Waverly; (2) a well or wells in the gravel fill of Trace Creek Valley east of<br />
Waverly; (3) springs on Claxton branch of Blue Creek, 2 miles south of Waverly;<br />
(4) springs on Mathews branch of Blue Creek, 2 miles southwest of Waverly; (5)<br />
Carnell Spring, on Little Richland Creek, 2J^ miles north of Waverly.<br />
Drilling wells in the limestone in the vicinity of Waverly is at best uncertain of<br />
success, for in view of the conditions of ground-water occurrence in limestone<br />
(pp. 69-89) it is impossible to predict the depth or water-yielding capacity of<br />
water-bearing beds. Although the cherty de'bris just above the unweathered<br />
limestone generally yields ample water for individual dwellings, it is very likely to