Mon July 23, 2012 Drought Brings Misery To Arkansas River Basin
Drought has set in early and hard across the Midwest, parching
the Arkansas River basin. The river trickling out of the
mountains is dry before it reaches some of the major
agricultural uses downstream. And the drought is torching crops,
sapping tourism and threatening supplies of drinking water. High
in the Rocky Mountains, about 10 miles north of Leadville,
Colo., the Arkansas River starts as a trickle running off some
of the tallest peaks in the continental United States. In a
normal year, "you would see snowcapped peaks and water rushing
down," says Garry Hanks, a retired high school teacher who now
serves as a deputy water commissioner in southeast Colorado. But
this year there's hardly even a dribble of water coming down
from the mountains. And the drought intensifies just downstream.
Almost every drop of water of the shrinking Arkansas River is
spoken for. Local farmers and other residents compete with
tourism, fishing, and rafting. "Rafti