It’s official: the Kenai Peninsula is in a moderate drought. After months of warm weather and little rain, the United States Drought Monitor designated the region abnormally dry. The drought is creating a crisis for farmers who are having to water their crops more often while at the same time their wells are drying up. There are roughly 260 farms on the peninsula.

Normally, we have so many feet of snow throughout the village and the mountains would be packed with snow.

"Jakolof Creek is dry almost all the way up to the switchbacks and continues to recede. The early run of red salmon may have made it to the lake, but that is probably the only run that has."

The water well is dry due to a lack of rain, and the village’s distribution system is damaged. As of Thursday, residents had only 5,000 gallons of drinkable water left.

Persistent high pressure over the Gulf of Alaska and Bristol Bay has kept most storms well away from the lower Kenai Peninsula. At Homer, total rainfall June 1-August 16 was only 53% of normal, making this the driest since 2004. The City of Seldovia has issued a "City Water Conservation Notice" on August 20th. The notice doesn't ban any specific water use but requests residents make an effort to use less water by minimizing watering lawns and washing cars and to take shorter showers.

A Kenai Peninsula village is rapidly running out of water. Low snowpack and little rainfall has led Nanwalek to declare a water emergency.