GROUND WATER IN NORTH-CENTRAL TENNESSEE

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