HOT SPRINGS, S.D. (AP)--Some junior water rights holders in the Hot Springs area won't be able to irrigate their land for at least another year unless drought conditions improve.

Fifty-four water users have been told to shut off their water supplies in order to give priority to senior water rights holders.

Bernice Landers' 23,000-acre ranch near the Cheyenne River will go another year without a hay crop unless enough rain falls to bring the river back to its normal level. She said she has not used her water pump in more than five years.

"You can't pump, you can't irrigate without water," said Bernice Landers of Star Cattle Co.

"It has to be pretty high for us in order to irrigate because the pump has to go clear down into the river and it just hasn't been that," said Landers.

"We just haven't had the rains or had the snows to make the river, the Cheyenne River run, which unfortunately makes the dam work, so there's just no water."

Environmentalists say the Angostura Reservoir that feeds the river is more than 17 feet below capacity.

Officials say senior water rights holders have priority because too much demand on the water system would dry everyone out.

"Everybody's hurting," Landers said. "I mean it's just a very dry pocket in here that we haven't got any moisture at all."

Too little moisture means no hay crop and fewer cattle, Landers said.

Date: 3/23/05