Des Moines issued its first water conservation notice in over 40 years, after the city water works pumped a record 95 million gallons of water in one day.
Such high volumes strain water networks, the same networks that provide water to fire hydrants.
Around the Quad Cities, Carbon Cliff and Geneseo have issued water conservation notices too.
It's a sign of the times, green hoses snaking across lawns, trying to save a homeowners crop.
"We went from dry, to fried to a crisp," says Geneseo's Bill McCafferty.
He refuses to throw in the towel just yet, watering "Probably twice a week, and just trying to keep it alive basically so it doesn't just fry."
But his City wants him and others to change strategies. because the Geneseo water supply can only produce so much.
"If we don't be proactive, in instances like this we potentially could have more problems," says Geneseo Mayor Linda Van Der Leest.
Because the Earth is so bone dry any extra pressure on these water mains could cause them to break and snap. And if they end up breaking, there goes your pressure to your fire service.
"We would need a response of potentially hundreds of thousands of gallons, of water at a fire, we want to make sure that we would have the water pressure to be able to respond to that emergency," says Van Der Leest.
The mayor says heavy water use had city pumps closing in on their one point four million gallon capacity. Anything above that would cause the water pressure to drop.
"There's nothing more frustrating than being reactive and having to tell people, that they can't use water, or put in a boil order in."
The City's three week old water conservation notice has helped. But Van Der Leest expects it to stay in place until the drought breaks. Meaning homeowners will likely have to sacrifice their lawns for their fire hydrants.
The Geneseo fire department also has access to water sources like the Hennepin Canal.
But trucking in water makes firefighting more difficult.
Making a dependable water supply even more important in these dry times.
