Barren River so low 20 cattle go MIA after wading through water

Local property owner takes to skies to capture shrinking waters

RICHARDSVILLE, Ky. – Property owners along the Barren River in Warren County have watched the river shrink to hardly a creak over the summer and fall. 

David Eadens’s farm along the river has been a family-owned property for 100 years. And now, he’s lost his farm’s natural barrier.

“The water continues to get lower and lower and this is as long as I’ve ever seen it right now.”

Eadens faced a big scare last week when he realized his cattle farm has lost its natural barrier.

“I couldn’t find them, and I knew something was wrong,” recalled Eadens. “I could see cattle over [the river]. They’d gone across the river.”

Eadens’ family finally found the cattle… two days later over a mile away from the farm.

“We’ve had to bring them up here and make arrangements for them to stay up here on top [of the farm property]. They will have to stay here until the water level in the river comes back.

Now Eadens is potentially looking at buying a pretty penny’s worth of fencing.

“If [the water level remains low all the time, I’m gonna put a fence up, and it’s going to cost a lot of money to do that,” he said.

Eaden’s good friend and neighbor Gus Suarez says there are more consequences when it comes to the water level lowering.

“A couple friends told me that they’re going to sell their boats because they cannot put their boats [up river] anymore,” recounted Suarez. “The river is gone….This is making it difficult for people to live here. Boating, and fishing and stuff like that, it’s not going to be there anymore.”

Two weeks ago, Suarez decided to see the problem for himself… but from a different perspective.

“I took my little airplane and flew over the river to see what was going on.”

Compared to his previous times up in the air, the once vast river just can’t compare, according to the pilot.

“There is a total difference,” he said. “Before it was a nice river; foliage and a nice area. Now it is just bare land and destroyed.”

So, what can we attribute Barren River’s water level lowering to?

South Central Kentuckians have been dealing with a minor drought since summertime. The unseasonable lack of rainfall is doing nothing to help refill the river.

Another possible cause? Coincidently, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently removed Barren River Lock and Dam 1 on the Barren River in Warren County due to deterioration.

News 40 reached out to the local and national Army Corps to see if the dam removal could be a contributing factor but we haven’t heard back yet.

News 40 will continue to keep you updated on this story.