Extreme drought impacts farms, businesses in Lewis County

LEWIS COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) — The most recent data showed the only Tennessee county 100% in the “extreme drought” category was Lewis County. It’s the second highest level of intensity on the weekly U.S. Drought Monitor.

“It is extremely dry here in Lewis County,” said Lewis County Mayor Jonah Keltner. “This is affecting several different aspects of our community.”

He told News 2 farmers were impacted with extremely dry pastures, crops drying up and having difficulty getting their livestock adequate water.

“We also have lots of “homesteaders” and “off the grid” residents who have miniature farms and gardens, and they are being affected the same way,” the mayor said.

Keltner added the drought was affecting the wallets of several commercial landscaping businesses who haven’t had grass to mow in weeks.

“Third, it’s affecting tourism on our Buffalo River, as the water level is so low right now you can’t kayak the river without dragging constantly,” he said. “Fourth, while I haven’t personally heard any concerns of this yet like I have the other issues,  we have lots of residents outside the City Limits on well water, and I would think their personal water supply would be negatively affected by not having rain in so long.  So we’re definitely feeling it here in Lewis County.”

The Summertown Utility District shared an alert stating that due to the ongoing drought situation, they are now forced to move to mandatory water restrictions. That included customers reducing water usage by 50%.

The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency said 2.1 million Tennessee residents are in areas of drought, according to the latest report from the U.S. Drought Monitor. They posted to social media that TEMA Meteorologist Megan Schargorodski leads their Drought and Wildfire Task Force, and meets regularly with state and local partners to discuss conditions and resources that may be needed.

The drought monitor report summed up the situation in Tennessee by stating, “In Tennessee, drought impacts include pastures providing little to no feed, drying or dried up ponds, creek levels very low, complete or near crop failure.”

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRN News 2.