At the Medium Potable Water Fill Station, located at the A.L. Dafoe Water Purification Plant in Napanee, a man fills his 4.5 cubic metre (1,000 gallon) tank with water. Photo by Michelle Dorey Forestell/Kingstonist.
There are many positives about rural living, but being closer to Mother Nature also means being more reliant on her. Drought conditions this summer have meant more than just brown spots on the lawn to rural residents of eastern Ontario, where getting water is often not as simple as just turning on the tap.
The ongoing drought in eastern Ontario is significantly impacting farmers, leading to crop damage, reduced yields, and potential financial losses. Farmers are struggling with heat stress on crops, a lack of sufficient rainfall for proper growth, and an increased workload due to irrigation efforts. Some farmers are even forced to let crops die due to the severity of the conditions. Similarly, hobby farmers, gardeners, and even families who depend on wells for water are struggling day to day with the challenge of the drought.
According to Agriculture Canada, in July, eastern Ontario faced some of the driest conditions in central Canada. Many areas saw less than 40 per cent of their normal July rainfall, causing drought zones to spread and new dry pockets to form. The hot, dry months have stressed crops and left more than a third of the region’s farmland in drought conditions. According to Canada Weather Stats, July 2025 only saw 18.7 mm of rain accumulation.
Contrast this with The Weather Network’s historical monthly averages report, which collates data for the last 25 years. Historically, July in the Kingston area averages 12 days of precipitation with 72.2 millimetres of rain accumulation, and August averages 10 days of precipitation with 57 millimetres of rain.
According to Brian Windover of Bayview Farms, the drought is already taking a toll on his family-run farm located on the shores of Hay Bay, a mixed farming operation consisting of hay, beef, soy beans, and wheat.
“It’s bad,” Windover told Kingstonist. “Our soybeans will be almost a total failure.”
The beans, planted on shallow ground, have turned grey and will not even produce any crop to harvest, he said.
Unfortunately, Windover doesn’t have crop insurance, so this will be a total loss to the farm. He explained that the choice not to have crop insurance is a decision they’ve made based on diversification of their products, “and we have to live with that decision… One crop doesn’t ruin us, but it will hurt.”
As for the cattle, he said they are now feeding the herd, on average, 16 bales of hay per week, “months ahead of when we would normally start feeding hay.” The ponds used to water the livestock are also a concern, as water levels are dropping rapidly.
“We are working on a plan to harvest corn from a neighbouring crop farmer as silage for our cattle,” Windover said, because “our corn will only provide about 30 per cent of the silage it would normally produce, and secondly we are concerned we will completely deplete our hay stocks as we’ve had to start feeding hay so early.”
“The neighbour’s corn will not produce much grain, but we chop up the entire plant. So we’re trying to find ways to add extra feed to our winter stockpile to ensure we make it to next spring.”
Urban dwellers might not appreciate how the drought impacts every aspect of life in the country, not just on farms. Many rural homes get their water from in-ground wells on their property. When the well goes dry, that spells trouble: no water for cooking and drinking, no showers, no laundry, and no flushing toilets.
The Medium Potable Water Fill Station at the A.L. Dafoe Water Purification Plant in Napanee is constantly encircled by residents with water tanks on trailers and in trucks. This fill station is intended for filling containers smaller than 4.5 cubic metres (1,000 gallons). The cost for this service is $2 for 1,000 litres (220 gallons). Users must supply a hose and fittings, which are necessary to connect to the station.
Sometimes the wait for water is hours long.
Usually, the hours of operation are from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., but this week, the town of Napanee has had to increase the hours at the station to keep rural residents afloat. A spokesperson for the Town said, “We recognize that there is an increased demand for water during this extended dry period and believe that making the Medium Fill Station available 24/7 will better support users’ needs.”
The line for water stretches around the A.L. Dafoe Water Purification Plant in Napanee. The Medium Potable Water Fill Station at this location, which is intended for filling containers smaller than 4.5 cubic metres (1,000 gallons), has been constantly encircled by residents with water tanks on trailers and in trucks, sometimes waiting over an hour for water. Photo by Michelle Dorey Forestell/Kingstonist.
Ariel Paterson has a hobby farm outside of Napanee where she lives with her family of four, along with horses, ponies, goats, and chickens. She said she is “very grateful to have the fill station. as we use it every year for our livestock to conserve our well, but this is probably the worst drought we’ve experienced living here in Napanee.”
She shared that their well has been dry for weeks now: “I’ve never seen lineups like there are currently at the water fill station, waiting on average an hour or more — so we have to schedule our days around getting water.”
“We go to the water fill station three times a week just to fill up water troughs for the animals, and usually we do two trips, one for the troughs and one for our well so we can bathe and do laundry. We haven’t been watering any plants or using any extra water due to the drought,” Paterson said.
“On top of having no water, the drought has affected how she feeds her horses. “I can’t put them out on pasture; it’s all gone dormant. So I am feeding twice as much hay. Not only that, but the drought has diminished her overall yield of hay. “So I have to purchase about 75 per cent of my hay for the year, and I am going through way more than I usually do this time of year. I typically feed about 50 per cent pasture and 50 per cent hay in the dry months, but it’s been 100 per cent hay this year,” she continued.
Nicole Dombrowski, like many, grows an extensive vegetable garden for her family’s needs and cans and preserves food to use throughout the year.
“My vegetable garden is officially dead. We can’t water as much as it needs, especially in this heat. So, no canning for me this year unless I purchase from someone else.”
Tracey Toth, too, has significantly reduced water use and laments the loss of her garden.
“My flower beds are done. Couldn’t water them, so they have dried out. I’ve started to remove my veggie garden, as the plants aren’t thriving with the intense heat. I can’t risk our well water to keep it going. Very sad for my freezer and preserves,” said Toth.
She noted that she is keeping a bird bath up and small water dishes for wildlife, as water sources have gone dry around the area.
“This summer’s drought in Napanee has been the first time in 10 years that I have had to water my fruit trees,” Landon Savell shared. “Each tree has received about five gallons of water a week just to keep it alive. Because of the drought and to conserve water, I am expecting a small harvest of smaller fruit this year.”
On top of dry wells, wildfire is a genuine concern. Savell has kept up weekly watering of his lawn out of fear of a grass fire.
Amanda Dowdall of Count Your Blessings Farm in Napanee shared with Kingstonist that a fire started on her property when a stack of winter straw bedding spontaneously combusted due to the drought.
“Thankfully, we store our combustibles like hay and straw away from structures and each other, so no further damage was done,” Dowdall said, noting that the prolonged heat and lack of consistent precipitation can be highly detrimental to farmers.
A stack of straw bales goes up in flames at Count Your Blessings farm. Photo submitted.
“City folk take water for granted, as I did when I grew up on Kingston’s south side,” said Stuart Dyer, who has lived in Odessa beside Mud Lake for 30 years. “In the past, my well has watered gardens and six cows; this is the first time I have had to seriously conserve water.”
“My garden and grounds are parched. The woods around me are tinderboxes. I am not sure some trees will recover,” he said.
On June 10, 2025, Dyer contacted the mayor to put a burn ban in place because of the extreme dryness.
“He forwarded my request to the fire chief. On August 2, I contacted both the mayor and the fire chief again. The next day, a partial burn ban was announced,” he said.
Greater Napanee is now under a total burn ban, which was put in place on Monday, Aug. 11, 2025.
Dyer said that he plans on installing a new well in the fall, saying, “I fear that with climate change, more droughts and changed weather patterns are coming.”
A patch of intentionally planned native plants suffers due to the hot, dry conditions. Photo by Michelle Dorey Forestell/Kingstonist.
Quincy Emmons, a Fire Captain with Stone Mills Township and also the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of FireRein, shared that “across Canada, we are at a level 5, meaning all resources are in use and we are at our limit to deal with wildfires.”
Couple that with the recent drought, he said, and local “fire departments will be initiating our mutual aid systems, so in the event of a fire, multiple departments will respond to send water tankers and spread the burden of water resources, minimizing the local impact on water availability.”
“The mutual aid system is a tremendous resource,” Emmons stated, “and we are fortunate enough in Frontenac and [Lennox and Addington] to have amazing people leading this and working together.”
However, he noted, “the reality is that if we have a major fire in this area, the provincial and federal agencies are already at maximum capacity. We are close to the breaking point, especially with wildfires burning south of Bancroft and [in] the Kawartha Lakes region.”
“Locally, we are being asked to conserve water use, and burn bans are in place. We all need to do our part to prevent fires and a potential disaster from taking place,” Emmons implored.