‘Drought conditions have worsened’: Middle TN deals with lack of water, high demand

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — As the severe heat lingers across Middle Tennessee, drought conditions have worsened in multiple counties.

The U.S. drought monitor’s latest drought map shows at least six middle Tennessee counties are now, in some fashion, in “extreme drought conditions.” That includes Hickman, Lewis, Perry, Maury, Lawrence and Wayne counties.

News 2 spoke with a co-op in Hohenwald on Thursday about the dry conditions. They said residents are coming in and telling them that their wells are running dry, their crops are dying, and farmers are unlikely to harvest more hay for their livestock.

“It’s just dry,” the co-op said simply.

Over in Lawrence County, the community of Summertown went under mandatory water restrictions earlier this week.

“It’s obviously very dry and it’s not very often that we get to say it’s a dry heat in Middle Tennessee. So drought conditions have worsened over the last week,” said Matt Reagan, meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Nashville office.

Urban areas are not immune to the consequences of the weather. In fact, Metro Water is asking residents in Davidson County to voluntarily stagger their irrigation use to ease the impact on demand.

The utility company said they have enough water, but their average water usage is approaching its record of 151 million gallons, which was set back in the 2007 drought.

As a result, residents, especially those with large yards and irrigation systems, are asked to alternate their watering days to avoid higher water bills and stress on their system in the months ahead.

“We REALLY need our customers to stagger irrigation: Odd numbered addresses water only on Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Even numbered addresses water only on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday,” wrote the company. Neighborhoods in Belle Meade and Green Hills have also noticed low water pressure during peak water usage, according to Metro Water.

To further emphasize the present situation, the U.S. drought monitor wrote in their weekly report about Tennessee saying, “drought impacts include pastures providing little to no feed, drying or dried up ponds, creek levels very low, complete or near crop failure.”

“In the long-term, we are coming up on the driest time of year, so we expect the drought conditions to persistent as we go into the fall,” Reagan told News 2.

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