U.S. Water News Online
LITTLE ROCK -- Arkansas saw only 34 inches of rainfall during 2005 to maintain the state's natural beauty that it markets to attract tourists for fishing, boating, swimming and other recreation. Forecasters say Arkansas usually receives about 50 inches of rain each year.
Preliminary estimates show 2005 as the second-driest year on record for most of Arkansas. All of the state's 75 counties have been declared disaster areas because of the drought.
"It does not look like we're going to do a whole lot of catching up on rain during the wintertime," says John Robinson, with the North Little Rock office of the National Weather Service.
The subsequent droughts and warmer winter weather have prompted two-thirds of Arkansas counties to declare 52 burn bans and has farmers worried about their cattle and crops.
Cattlemen had problems because their pasture grasses dried too early this season forcing them to buy hay to feed their animals at the last minute. Farmers are also considering if they should plant water-consuming rice this coming season.
Drinking water has proven scarce in some part of the states where wells and lakes are low. Perryville in Perry County recently installed a pump after the town's water nearly ran dry.
Fort Smith city officials may have to draw water from the Arkansas River to stretch the water supply. And the popular tourist spot, the Buffalo River, is nearing a record-low water level.
Rainfall is down 20 inches in De Queen, where rancher Al Wright is worried.
"If the prices we receive for calves weren't at near-record levels there would be a lot of people out of the cattle business now," Wright said.
Wright thinks buying hay for his 500 cows will cost him about $30,000 and if things don't improve by spring the cows will have to be sold because there's no grass for them to eat.
The rice crop wasn't affected by the drought much in 2005, but that will change in 2006, said Phil Tacker, an engineer with the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service.
"The concern is if diesel prices are still high, and water is short, that there will be less rice acreage," Tacker said. "The farmers are wondering... what crops can I even afford to plant next year?"
The drought also means fire danger. The Arkansas Forestry Commission had posted burn bans in 52 of the state's 75 counties. Experts describe the wildfire conditions as ideal. Fourteen western Arkansas counties were on the "extreme fire danger" list. Others were either moderate or high risk. The counties where burn bans weren't in effect were in northeast, eastern, and south-central Arkansas.
As of early January there had been 256 fires in Arkansas. The 10-year average is about 67 for this time of the year, forestry commission officials said, adding that fire crews and equipment are ready just in case.
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