Drought impacts summer fun on the Dan River

[00:00:00]From this angle, you can see the Dan River flowing peacefully behind me, but take a few steps this way and you can see all of this dry land. Well, this is usually covered by water in a typical year, but of course this year we're experiencing a drought throughout the state. This drought is causing problems for one local kayaking business and they said they're not even putting customers on the river right now.

[00:00:26]>> Right now, you would be walking about every 100 yards or so.

[00:00:31]>> The Dan River is still moving, but not fast enough or deep enough for the Dan River Company to operate normally. Owner David Hoskins says the drought this year has left some parts of the river so shallow that his paddlers would spend much of their trip out of their boats.

[00:00:46]So, for now he stopped renting kayaks altogether.

[00:00:49]>> It's very difficult, um, money-wise, uh, but reputation-wise we've always been known for uh, siding on the side of the customer.

[00:00:57]>> That decision comes with a cost.

[00:00:59]>> I have probably, uh, 70% of my income is not arrived.

[00:01:07]And we at this point returned every bit of deposits for the season back to our customers.

[00:01:13]>> For now, Hoskins has several ways he's trying to keep his business afloat. He's selling some of his kayaks, his adjoining bar remains open, and he's even starting a hiking shuttle business to help attract people to the area.

[00:01:26]>> You can buy a boat or you can buy a beer.

[00:01:29]>> Reporting in Stokes County, Lauren Tier, WFM Y News 2.

[00:01:34]>> Now to tubing on the on the Dan River. A Rockingham company says their business is also being impacted. Mad Town Tubing says it's closely watching the water levels getting lower and lower every day. They're still up and running, but it's taking tubers 6 hours to float the course when it usually takes 4 hours.

[00:01:53]They're now adjusting their reservation time slots because of the longer journeys.

[00:01:58]>> In Graham, the Parks and Rec office is canceling its Slice of Summer Water Festival next Saturday because of the drought. The city is asking for your feedback about the future of the event in the hopes of bringing it back, but maybe in a different way.