Water, Water, Everywhere - Morgan County

Drought brings fear of the unknown. To watch a once productive well go dry, or to watch a farm pond grow smaller and smaller, makes you wonder if Morgan County will ever be the same. Then, when a giant sink hole develops in the eastern part of the county, even non-farming residents can see first-hand that the drought really is affecting the land where they live.

On October 5, 2007, in defiance to the despair of the drought, hope sprang up from the ground in Morgan County, west of Hartselle. There is still a lot of water underground if you can find it. Just ask Billy Melson. He will beam with pride telling you about the well he had installed on his cattle farm on Craze Road. In fact, some people around town are calling him "Jed Clampett."

This past summer, Billy gazed at a pitiful sight—his farm pond with only a puddle of murky undrinkable water at the bottom. He knew he was going to have to do something for his cattle. The Farm Service Agency offered a fifty percent cost share program for disaster relief. He applied for the assistance, but even with financial aid, anyone who has ever dug a well knows, it’s a financial risk. The well digger has to get paid whether he strikes water or not. Billy got help from Rassie Wallace, a local farmer, who’s "water witching" reputation precedes him. Rassie found a spot he felt had a pretty good stream right inside the pasture gate, not too far from a watering trough. It seemed too convenient to be true.

When the well diggers told him they had reached 50 feet with little to no water, Billy grew worried. "I was beginning to doubt ol’ Rassie," states Billy. He thought he had just spent $1,000 for a 50 foot hole. Taking a chance, he told them to keep on digging, knowing that every foot was costing him more and more. Then, at 100 feet water started flowing over the top of the well, and it hasn’t stopped yet. "I can’t stand to see the water waste," states Billy. "I took a bucket and watered every tree and flower around here!"

Billy’s neighbor, Doyle Whitlow, a Supervisor with the Morgan County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD), suggested contacting SWCD/NRCS field office for some technical assistance in handling the excess water. Fred Evans, technician with the NRCS, inspected the well and gave Billy suggestions on connecting multiple water troughs with underground pipe, construction of waterways for drainage, digging a pond, and well water testing.

"It makes our job so much easier when we have our supervisors actively involved in pursuing resource conservation opportunities in the community of local farmers," states Foy Kirkland, District Conservationist.