Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, September 2, 1995 TAG: 9509050061
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LISA K. GARCIA STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
That's right. Water buffaloes.
Well, not your ordinary beasts with horns a roller coaster designer would envy. These are ``small water tankers about a third of the size of a gas tanker,'' according to Bill Cimino, spokesman for Secretary of Public Safety Jerry Kilgore, who issued a statement about the buffaloes.
``Maybe tanker would have been a better word,'' Cimino said when asked whether the term had caused confusion.
Cimino said anyone following news of the National Guard's deployment of the tankers probably would know what a water buffalo is.
``I have no idea why they are called water buffaloes ... it's a military term,'' Cimino said.
Kilgore's official statement said: ``Full-time units of the Virginia National Guard are being used to deploy water buffaloes to Dickenson County. Over 2,000 wells in Dickenson County have gone dry over the last several days, and there is potential for a serious water crisis.''
Cimino said no one knows why wells are running dry in Dickenson. He said the county is ``coal country,'' and old mine shafts have been known to collapse. The result is a suction effect that drains the local water vein dry. The lack of rain in recent weeks also may be a factor, he said.
Water buffaloes, which carry about 500 gallons of water each, are small enough that they can be transported by helicopter, Cimino said.
But don't search the sky over Dickenson County for water buffaloes; this herd was hauled in behind trucks.
by CNB