Photo by Emily Featherston
Evidence of the recent drought could be seen on waterways throughout the areas, including the Cahaba River, pictured here in late November.
Mayor Ashley Curry said he knows residents are tired of talking about the drought and having to conserve water, but just because the area has gotten some rain, he doesn’t want Vestavians to be less vigilant.
As of press time, the greater Birmingham area was still in a Stage 4 Drought Emergency, according to the Birmingham Water Works Board, and would remain at that level until water levels at Lake Purdy reached a certain threshold.
Lake levels can be seen on the BWWB website, and were hovering just below 50 percent in mid January.
With that in mind, Curry said he wanted to keep working to make sure Vestavia Hills was doing its part in drought management.
“I didn’t want this to go away just because we’ve suddenly had some rain,” Curry said.
He reiterated that the city would continue enforcing its watering restrictions until the area drought level is reduced to below Stage 3.
However, he said that simply managing the current drought wasn’t his main goal.
Over the last month or so, Curry said he has been investigating, both on his own and through his connections in the community, what options the over-the-mountain communities have to avoid being in such a dire situation in the future.
He said that in the closing weeks of 2016 he heard rumors that in 2007, when the last major drought held the area, the over-the-mountain communities looked into finding an additional source of water to take some of the strain off of Lake Purdy.
“It was during that particular drought that mayors of cities, primarily over the mountain that got their water from Lake Purdy, approached Birmingham Water Works Board,” he said.
Curry said he recruited community member and friend Ken Scarborough to meet with representatives from the BWWB to find out what was discussed at that time, and see if there are any ongoing plans.
What he discovered, he said, was the ongoing water pipeline project, nicknamed the Carson Loop, that would bring water from north Jefferson County to some of the over-the-mountain communities, including Liberty Park and the U.S. 280 area.
“It might alleviate this situation in the future,” he said.
Anitra Hendrix, executive assistant to the general manager at BWWB, said that the Carson Loop has been under construction for a number of years, but currently doesn’t have a completion date.
“It’s a big project, and it does take time,” she said. Continuation of the project, she said, relies on funding and weather conditions.
She confirmed Curry’s thoughts that the pipeline would help areas over the mountain and around U.S. 280, which were the hardest hit during the current drought.
While the project is still ongoing, Curry said he thinks it’s important to pursue, especially given the recent and projected growth in Vestavia, especially in Liberty Park.
“We’re growing,” he said. “By the time the next drought rolls around, we could be in far worse shape we were this time.”
He said that he thinks that even though the area is moving out of the current drought, it is important for the city to have a “drought plan” in the same way it has plans for other natural disasters and emergencies.
“You should always have plans in place for contingencies,” he said. “I just feel we’d be remiss if we don’t consider droughts.”
