Ford County's current U.S. Drought Monitor classification, updated weekly — with the town's Ogallala water story in official figures. In English and Spanish.
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Every Thursday the U.S. Drought Monitor publishes its map of drought across the country. This page shows the current classification for Ford County — and, below it, the water facts that make dryness the question this town lives with: every drop Dodge City drinks is pumped from the Ogallala aquifer.
Cada jueves, el Monitor de Sequía de EE. UU. (U.S. Drought Monitor) publica su mapa de la sequía en todo el país. Esta página muestra la clasificación actual del condado de Ford — y, más abajo, los datos del agua que hacen de la sequía la pregunta con la que vive esta ciudad: cada gota que Dodge City bebe se bombea del acuífero Ogallala.
U.S. Drought Monitor map of 7 July 2026
Moderate drought (D1) or worse across 94.7% of Ford County
The classification covers all of Ford County — farms, feedyards and open range included — not Dodge City alone. / La clasificación cubre todo el condado de Ford — incluidos los campos, los corrales de engorde y las tierras abiertas — no solo Dodge City.
| Condition | Share of the county |
|---|---|
| In abnormally dry (D0) or worse | 100% |
| In moderate drought (D1) or worse | 94.7% |
| In severe drought (D2) or worse | 4.6% |
Shares are cumulative, the way the Drought Monitor publishes them: each row counts the part of the county in that category or worse, so land in severe drought is also counted in every milder row.
| County | This week |
|---|---|
| Finney County | Moderate drought (D1) or worse — 82.5% |
Shares are cumulative, the way the Drought Monitor publishes them: each row counts the part of the county in that category or worse, so land in severe drought is also counted in every milder row.
These are published figures, each from the source below — they change slowly, and this page is not the meter reading. The live classification above comes from the Drought Monitor and updates weekly.
Estas son cifras publicadas, cada una de la fuente citada abajo — cambian lentamente, y esta página no es el medidor. La clasificación en vivo de arriba viene del Monitor de Sequía y se actualiza cada semana.
Source: Office of the Kansas Governor ($57M project); KLC Journal (GMD3 water table); City of Dodge City (wells, volume), checked 11 July 2026.
When water-tower levels dropped below 75% during irrigation season in April 2026, the city asked residents to cut back voluntarily — shorter watering, fixing leaks. These are voluntary "Water Wise" steps; no mandatory restrictions are in force. The city's utilities pages carry any change.
Cuando los niveles de los tanques de agua bajaron del 75% durante la temporada de riego en abril de 2026, la ciudad pidió a los residentes reducir el consumo de forma voluntaria — regar menos, reparar fugas. Son medidas voluntarias del programa "Water Wise"; no hay restricciones obligatorias en vigor. Cualquier cambio se publica en las páginas de servicios públicos de la ciudad.
Two municipal wells south of town were shut off in March 2026 after nitrate readings above the state limit. The water delivered to homes stays within legal limits through blending from the remaining wells — the shutoff is about which wells pump, not about the tap being unsafe.
Dos pozos municipales al sur de la ciudad se cerraron en marzo de 2026 tras registrar niveles de nitratos por encima del límite estatal. El agua que llega a los hogares se mantiene dentro de los límites legales mediante la mezcla con los demás pozos — el cierre se trata de cuáles pozos bombean, no de que el agua de la llave sea insegura.
The Arkansas River at Dodge City is usually a dry bed — upstream irrigation and the falling water table drained it decades ago. The U.S. Geological Survey's gauge at Dodge City no longer even publishes a flow figure. That dry riverbed is where the recharge project will return treated water.
El río Arkansas a su paso por Dodge City suele ser un lecho seco — el riego aguas arriba y el descenso del nivel freático lo secaron hace décadas. La estación del Servicio Geológico de EE. UU. en Dodge City ya ni siquiera publica un dato de caudal. Ese lecho seco es adonde el proyecto de recarga devolverá agua tratada.
The official pages
The Drought Monitor describes drought already observed — it is not a forecast, and not a water-restriction notice. For official notices, use the links above.
Checked . Ford County on droughtmonitor.unl.edu
The U.S. Drought Monitor is jointly produced by the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the United States Department of Agriculture, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Map courtesy of NDMC.
One chip per weekly map: the category covering at least half the county that week. “—” means most of the county was free of drought.
6 weeks ago (map of 26 May 2026), most of the county was in extreme drought (D3). The map has eased since then.