Drought

The Kansas Water Office issued a water warning for all residents using Burlington water, including those in Gridley, LeRoy and New Strawn, and those served by Coffey Rural Water Districts 2 and 3. Coffey County also has an ongoing emergency drought declaration, and that, combined with the lack of inflow from the Cottonwood and Neosho Rivers and predicted levels at John Redmond Reservoir, prompted the warning. KVOE (Emporia, Kan.), Oct 22, 2022

Residents in Chase County have been asked to voluntarily conserve water. This request includes Cottonwood Falls, Strong City and Chase County Rural Water District 1. KVOE (Emporia, Kan.), Oct 22, 2022

The Tennessee Valley Authority began releasing water from Kentucky Dam on the Tennessee River and Barkley Dam on the Cumberland River in Kentucky into the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. The measure was intended to help stabilize commercial navigation conditions on the lower Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. The Mississippi River at Cairo, Illinois was nearing its lowest level since 1901, according to TVA post. Memphis Commercial Appeal (Tenn.), Oct 20, 2022

Barge drafts on the Lower Mississippi River were reduced to 9 feet on Oct. 17 in both directions, marking a 24% to 30% reduction to tons per barge compared to normal conditions. The bottom line is that shippers pay the same for a barge regardless of how much is loaded in it. DTN – Progressive Farmer (Burnsville, Minn.), Oct 24, 2022

Illinois American Water temporarily switched from using the Ohio River as its source water to groundwater for Cairo, Illinois as the Ohio River is at a historically low level. The groundwater contains more minerals than surface water. WPSD 6 (Paducah, Ky.), Oct 17, 2022

The US Army Corps of Engineers is constructing a temporary 1,500-foot-wide underwater levee in the Mississippi River to prevent saltwater from pushing up the river amid record-low river levels and flow rates. Sediment will be dredged from the river and piled up near Myrtle Grove, Louisiana, downstream from New Orleans, to make a sill to dam the denser saltwater downstream. When the river’s flow is less than 300,000 cubic feet per second, there is insufficient force to keep the saltwater from creeping upstream. The flow of the Mississippi River has been around or below 200,000 cubic feet per second for more than a week, according to data from the US Geological Survey. CNN (Atlanta, Ga.), Oct 18, 2022

Drought in Kentucky has hindered fall pasture forage growth, leading farmers to feed hay earlier than usual. The drought-stressed pastures will likely have plant loss, which will be felt in the next growing season. After the dry weather in June, pastures did have some regrowth, so farmers do have some hay available. “The river hasn’t been this low since the 1980s, maybe longer,” said Chad Lee, director of the UK Grain and Forage Center of Excellence. “This has already hurt the local price for soybeans. On Oct. 17, there were 51 barges parked at Hickman, Kentucky, while crews dredged the riverbed to clear debris so they could pass.” “Grain farmers are taking up to $1 per bushel off of the soybean price to ‘pay’ for barges. Some are instead stockpiling soybeans to wait until barge prices drop. But, if you’re a farmer without on-farm storage, you have to take the cut.” The London Sentinel Echo (Ky.), Oct 23, 2022

A large brush fire in Cooper County and almost zero visibility led to the closure of Interstate 70 between mile marker 106 and 117. The Missouri River Bridge at Rocheport was also closed. Dry vegetation, low humidity levels and windy conditions contributed to dangerous fire conditions in the area. KSIS-AM (Sedalia, Mo.), Oct. 22, 2022

Rivers are low across Iowa, showing more rocks and sand bars than water. In Ottumwa, the Army Corps of Engineers river gauge showed .08 of feet of water on the Des Moines River, as of Oct. 10. “So right now we’re using all Des Moines river water for community water supply,” stated the general manager of the Ottumwa Water Works. “I know the river looks really really low right now but we obviously have a pool of water behind us because of the dam historically we have flows like this for extended periods of time.” The Red Rock Dam was releasing 300 cubic feet per second, which is enough for Ottumwa. But the low flow did cause the hydroelectric plant to close, dropping revenue from electricity sales. They budgeted to receive about $450,000 for the year, but were at a little over $300,000 at the present. WHO-TV NBC 13 Des Moines (Iowa), Oct 10, 2022

The flashboards on the Des Moines River were put up in the summer and will remain up through the winter to ensure adequate water supplies at the Des Moines River intake and pumping facility. WHO-TV NBC 13 Des Moines (Iowa), Oct. 11, 2022 The level of the Raccoon River continued to fall, which is the primary water source for Des Moines. Officials with Des Moines Water Works were monitoring the river and anticipate needing to put up the flashboards across a low-head dam next week to keep drawing water from the river. This will the third consecutive year that the measure was needed. Prior to the last three years, the flashboards were last used in 2013, which was also the third of three consecutive years that the boards were used. Des Moines Register (Iowa), Aug. 6, 2022

The Platte River was flowing at 16 cubic feet per second in Hall County, south central Nebraska. The limited water flow may not encourage sandhill and whooping cranes to stay long as there was less food in the Platte River for the migratory birds to eat. KETV Newswatch 7 (Omaha, Neb.), Oct 19, 2022

The Barton Springs/Edwards Aquifer Conservation District declared a critical drought when the Lovelady and Barton Springs monitor wells dropped below their critical drought triggers. The last time the district was in a critical drought was in October 2013. Limiting water use is essential as wells could run dry, and some wells have already gone dry. FOX 7 Austin (Texas), Oct 20, 2022

Drought gripped northeast Oklahoma this year, leading one pumpkin patch to water its corn maze daily to help it through the intense heat and dry conditions. KTUL-TV ABC 8 (Tulsa, Okla.), Oct 15, 2022

Kansas crops like milo, corn and soybeans were very poor, according to a farmer. He warns that without moisture that the next season’s crops will also be at risk. No moisture this fall means that the soil may blow and crops are unable to grow. He urged people to pray for rain. KWCH 12 (Wichita, Kan.), Oct 16, 2022

Drought maintained its grip on northwest Nebraska where a couple with a cow-calf operation opted to follow their drought plan by reducing their breeding season, selling some cattle and weaning calves to get them to market early. 1011 Now (Lincoln, Neb.), Oct. 17, 2022

Most of the crops planted on an urban Kansas City farm at the end of summer have not yet sprouted, costing the farm an estimated thousands of dollars, on top of the cost of crops lost during the summer. Some crops were planted three times. Those that germinated died from heat and drought. Other urban farmers had similar experiences and irrigated, leading to large water bills. Grasshoppers and other pests were more problematic than usual this year. Fall production losses may lead the farm to close early at the end of October rather than selling through Thanksgiving. KSHB-TV NBC 41 Kansas City (Mo.), Oct 14, 2022

Firefighters in southeast Missouri have been very busy with high call volumes in the last few months, due to drought. WSIL-TV ABC 3 (Harrisburg, Ill.), Oct 15, 2022

Many trees in California’s forests were turning rust colored as another year of drought and bark beetles or other insects led to higher tree mortality. Trees were stressed from inadequate water and could not produce enough sap or pitch to defend themselves against insects. The 2021-22 winter was relatively warm and dry and allowed the bark beetles to continue reproducing and attacking the trees. A mass tree die-off occurred in 2016 when an estimated 62 million trees died. FOX 40 (Sacramento, Calif.), Oct 19, 2022

Some Goshen County livestock producers already grazed their winter pastures and were feeding hay. There were major sales of livestock and deep culling in herds. Calves were being weaned early due to the dry conditions. A fourth cutting of alfalfa was underway in irrigated fields. Kiowa County Press (Eads, Colo.), Oct 19, 2022

Many Suffolk County growers were able to water their crops adequately during the hot, droughty summer, but noted that production costs were much higher due to the need to irrigate heavily. Diesel and fertilizer, for instance, were much more expensive. One farmer raised his prices 15% to cover the extra costs. Some pumpkin varieties did not produce as much fruit this year. Blackberries were flowering during the high heat and did not get pollinated. The dry weather kept disease pressure low. Wine grapes thrived during the hot, dry summer and produced excellent grapes. The Suffolk Times (Mattituck, N.Y.), Oct 18, 2022