Wichita ? A long stretch of dry weather that dried up the water has turned Carol Lekan’s dream home into a nightmare.

Lekan has to take sponge baths, haul water to her home and try to recover from spending $7,000 to drill two wells, both of which came up dry.

Lekan lives in Chautaqua County, where 2001 was the third-driest year in 105 years.

“Even poor countries have water,” Lekan said. “We need help down here.”

Despite recent winter storms, the southern half of the state is still abnormally dry, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, published by the University of Nebraska in association with the federal government. And the forecast is for more dry weather.

“The 2 1/2 inches helped, but we need 12 more inches,” said Don Cox, the mayor of Cedar Vale, which set up an emergency water supply after its three water wells went dry in late November.

Southwest Kansas is officially in a drought for the fourth month in a row, according to the monitor. Since October, that part of the state has had about 5 percent of its normal precipitation.

Saturday’s rain brought only a trace of precipitation to many cities in southern Kansas.

“It helps a little, but it really doesn’t do much good,” said Chad Pettera a WeatherData Inc. meteorologist. “Especially with the high wind. That will just make it evaporate more quickly.”

The dry fall and winter make it critical that the southern half of the state receive rain in the spring.

Among the concerns:

 The Kansas Water Office has asked 133 towns, 16 percent of the communities statewide, to dust off water emergency plans and find backup supplies in case dry weather continues.

Augusta, Benton, Rose Hill, Bel Aire and some rural water districts in Sedgwick and Butler counties are among those communities.

 The Arkansas River and other rivers in southern Kansas are at 25 percent to 50 percent of their normal flow. Before the recent moisture, many rivers in southeast Kansas reached record lows.

 Ranchers in the southern half of the state are hauling water and feed to livestock. Some are selling off cattle.

Mary Knapp, the state climatologist, offers a sliver of hope. She said El Nino, a warming of the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Peru, is developing, which generally means warm, wet weather for Kansas.

If it continues to develop, Kansas should have above-average precipitation, but not until early 2003.

In Cedar Vale, residents are asked to take navy showers, running the water just long enough to wet down and rinse off.

Each household is asked to flush no more than twice daily, unless residents can recycle water already used to wash dishes or shower. Bottled water sales have doubled.

Sedan has begun the second stage of its conservation plan, which allows people to wash cars only after 9 p.m. Violators will be fined $100. Restaurants no longer serve water, except on request.

Calving season is beginning, which complicates the need to water livestock. A cow requires about 6 gallons of water daily. After calving, the requirement doubles.

“Suppose you have a herd of 100 cows,” Chase County extension agriculture agent Mike Holder said. “You’re looking at a water requirement of 1,200 gallons a day. That’s a lot of water to haul.”

The majority of fields in Morton, Stanton, Grant, Haskell, Seward and Stevens counties are still bare, said Merle Witt, a specialist with the southwest area extension office in Garden City.

“We need at least an inch of rain before I’d say for sure that most of the crop will come up,” he said.