State environmental officials say a southern Delaware poultry processing facility with a history of wastewater violations has reported an accidental discharge of up to 1 million gallons of partially treated wastewater.
Officials say Arkansas-based Mountaire Farms reported that the release was discovered about 5 a.m. Wednesday after a wastewater system component failed.
Mountaire says the release was contained onsite, with no discharge to nearby Swann Creek.
Last year, Mountaire agreed to pay a $420,000 civil penalty and offer an alternative water supply to nearby residents whose wells have been contaminated with high levels of nitrates.
In a consent decree with state officials, the company also agreed to address problems with the wastewater treatment system at its Millsboro plant.
Mountaire is also being sued by area residents complaining of water pollution.
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magnoliareporter.com has recorded 24.59 inches of rain in 2018.
According to the report, above normal temperatures and below normal rainfall were observed across much of Southwest Arkansas, Northeast Texas, and Southeast Oklahoma during the spring of 2018.
Rain was much below normal during May – normally one of the wettest months of the year across the region.
In fact, total rainfall since late April has ranged from 3 to 6 inches across much of East Texas, Northwest Louisiana, extreme Southern Arkansas, and Choctaw and southern McCurtain counties in Southeast Oklahoma — which is some 6 to 10 inches below normal.
As a result, severe (D2) drought conditions have developed across much of Northwest Louisiana, as well as areas in East Texas, and southern Miller, Lafayette, all of Columbia, and western Union Counties in Southwest Arkansas, and in Southeast Oklahoma.
Moderate (D1) drought conditions surround the existing severe drought areas across much of Northeast Texas, McCurtain County in Oklahoma, and Southwest Arkansas, along with several parishes in Northern Louisiana.
The NWS is predicting a 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms Friday, mainly before 1 p.m., with a temperature high near 90 degrees.
There is a 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms for Friday night.
There is a 20 percent chance of rain for Saturday night.
There is a 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms on Sunday, with a high near 95.

Dallas County, Mo.
"We run cattle, stock cows, we row crop quiet a bit of land, raise quiet a lot of hay, try to, the drought has taken care of some of that," Turner said.
Drought conditions in the Ozarks are getting worse, and it’s causing a high demand and high price for hay, leaving some farmers worried.
"Hay crops in this area for the most part, some of it down as much as half, some a little less, some a little more," Turner said.
Turner said he’s fortunate to have cut back on livestock and hopes he produced enough hay to get through the winter season but other farmers that need to buy hay are having a harder time.
"There is farmers around that buy all of their hay, they graze their ground, and don’t put up hay, and they buy all the hay that they feed," Turner said.
"It’s going to be really tough on them this time, more so than some of us that do both you know?
"If we can get some moisture, everything will chill out so to speak, everything will be good because it’s not too late yet."
Governor Mike Parson declared a drought alert for several counties in southwest Missouri.
Andy McCorkill is a Livestock Specialist, with the Dallas County University of Missouri Extension office.

LITTLE ROCK — Drought has put its grip on nearly 80 percent of Arkansas and the state’s ranchers are having to make decisions to handle rapidly dwindling amounts of forage for their cattle.
The U.S. Drought Monitor map released Thursday showed the 79.83 percent of the state with some drought rating.
Severe drought appeared in 2.19 percent of the state.
“I haven’t heard of any water problems yet.” John Jennings, extension forage specialist for the Division of Agriculture, said that even with the scattered showers of the last few days, “pasture recovery will require more than a few rain showers due to the dry soil profile and continued high temperatures.” Ranchers will need to make management decisions quickly during drought to maintain enough forage to feed the herd.
Manage it like standing hay and feed it a few acres at a time to make it last as long as possible.” • Rotational grazing is a good drought management tool.
Rotating pastures during drought conditions can help protect the pastures that will be needed for summer production.
• Feeding hay and limit grazing during dry weather can stretch available forage on drought-stressed pastures.
This practice may be detrimental to that pasture, but it helps protect forage in other pastures that will needed for later grazing.
Where pastures are grazed down to the soil and ranchers are feeding hay, “management strategies must focus on drought recovery.” Don Hubbell, head of the Livestock and Forestry Station in Batesville, said now “is also a good time for producers to be thinking about stockpiling fescue and bermudagrass for winter feeding.
12:11 3:39 For more information on managing during drought, visit https://www.uaex.edu/publications/pdf/mp530.pdf and download or read “Drought Management and Recovery in Livestock Systems.” For more information about cattle and forage production, visit www.uaex.edu or contact your county extension office.

Hotter-than-normal temperatures and persistent dry conditions led to an uptick in moderate to severe drought across eastern Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, and eastern Oklahoma, according to the National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported that 30% of continental U.S. (CONUS) and 66.4 million people are now being impacted by moderate drought or worse.
Extreme (D3) and Exceptional (D4) drought are affecting substantial areas of western Oklahoma, eastern Kansas, Texas, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and southern California.
Severe (D2) drought is present in eastern Oregon, southern California, Kansas, Utah, Texas, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, northern Missouri, southern Iowa, southern Arkansas, northern Louisiana, North Dakota and South Dakota.
Temperatures since October across the region have been well above normal: either top 10% or warmest on record since 1895.
Most of the region has received well-below-normal precipitation and some areas have been the driest on record since 1895.
He said beef cow slaughter in Region 6 is 10.4% higher than last year during the same period (through early June), with 14% more cows slaughtered since early April than in 2017.
Region 7, which includes both relatively dry Missouri and Kansas as well as Iowa and Nebraska, where timely rains have fallen, has seen beef cow slaughter up 6.7% year to date, and 8.8% in recent weeks, Brown noted.
“While it is still not clear whether the early spring cold temperatures and subsequent dry weather in portions of the country will be enough to result in a shrinking beef cow herd for the year, it is certain that poor pasture quality is taking a toll on many producers,” Brown said.
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In areas of existing dryness and drought, precipitation exceeded 1.5 inches only in southeastern Tennessee and adjacent areas, the southeastern tier of the dry area in Arkansas, the Sierra Nevada, and portions of southwestern California.
Southeast Light to moderate precipitation kept dryness and drought unchanged from last week, but some substantial changes were introduced farther west and south.
Moderate drought now covers two swaths, one across southern Alabama and central Georgia, and another from southeastern South Carolina southwestward through the eastern Florida Panhandle.
During the last 90 days, precipitation generally ranged from 3 to 6 inches below normal, with deficits approaching 8 inches in a few areas near the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, including the new D2 area in southeastern Georgia.
Small adjustments were made across southern and central Texas, but continued dryness with periods of strong winds and low humidity led to broad deterioration from the Texas Panhandle and northeastern New Mexico northeastward into the central Plains.
This resulted in broad D3 expansion across western sections of the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles, and much of northeastern New Mexico.
Southern parts of the Plains (above central Texas) experienced another week with little or no precipitation, prompting large-scale deterioration across the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles, northeastern New Mexico, and central and western Kansas.
Much smaller areas of improvement were observed farther west, and in part of western South Dakota that missed most of the snowstorm, some slight D1 and D2 expansion was introduced.
Conditions were generally unchanged in Montana, though D0 was pulled out of a small area in the interior southeast of the state.
The Navajo Nation declared a drought emergency due to poor rangeland and reduced water stores.

LITTLE ROCK — When flooding submerges wellheads, there’s a good chance the well water supply has been contaminated, said Mike Daniels, water quality specialist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.
“However, even if flooding has occurred nearby, then it is a good idea to have the water supply tested to assure it is still safe for humans and livestock,” he said.
“If there is any doubt about whether the quality of a water supply has been compromised, it’s important to have that water tested and follow procedures to sanitize the water supply.” You may submit water samples to the state Health Department or the Arkansas Water Quality Lab.
Visit arkansas-water-center.uark.edu/water-quality-lab.php to learn how to collect a sample to get an accurate result.
“It’s best to submit the sample within 24 hours after collection,” Daniels said.
However, “as long as the sample has been refrigerated, it will be about to provide realistic results for up to four days.” If the results show more than 10,000 colony forming units of total bacteria per milliliter, more than 100 colony forming units of coliform bacteria, or more than 50 colony forming units per milliliter, it’s a good idea to shock chlorinate the well.
Shock chlorination is a process by which home water systems, such as wells, springs and cisterns are disinfected using liquid bleach, or chlorine.
“It is the most widely recommended means of treating bacterial contamination in home water system as it is the quickest, cheapest and most efficient method of treatment,” Daniels said.
“Shock chlorination should only be done when the water supply will not be used by humans or animals for at least 24 hours because the initial chlorine levels are not safe to drink.” Visit uaex.edu/publications/pdf/MP292.pdf to learn more about shock chlorination in MP292 and improving home water quality.

Columbia, Lafayette, Miller, Union, Hempstead, Nevada and Ouachita counties are among those counties under "high wildfire danger."
Drought conditions continue in Southwest Arkansas, according to the Oct. 12 Arkansas Drought Monitor report.
The majority of Columbia County is classified as "abnormally dry," with the remainder of the county "moderately dry."
Parts of Lafayette County are "moderately dry," with part of the county "abnormally dry."
The majority of Miller County is classified as "moderately dry," with the remainder "abnormally dry."
The majority of Union County is "abnormally dry."
The majority of Hempstead County is "abnormally dry," with a small area "moderately dry."
All of Nevada and Ouachita Counties are considered "abnormally dry."
According to the Drought Monitor report, deteriorating conditions justified widespread expansion of drought condition “D0” across much of central Mississippi and northeastern Louisiana.
An area of moderate drought (D1) was added to the depiction in eastern Mississippi.

The group wants everyone to know the U.S. territory is in dire need of assistance.
"I have some cousins there and I’ve been in contact with them.
Puerto Ricans En Arkansas has been collecting items like water, mosquito repellent, mosquito nets and candles for those without electricity.
We still need a lot of those,” said Berumen.
“Right now, we’ve got about five pallets of water,” Berumen added. But she said they still need more nonperishable items, things like canned tuna and chicken breasts.
“We have to go to Dardanelle [today] because we have a group of people collecting stuff there.
Puerto Ricans En Arkansas has two more donation drives coming up. One is set for October 7 at the Southwest Community Center and another on October 8 at Little Rock Fire Station #23.
Their plane leaves for Puerto Rico October 20.

Arkansan tells of life with little water.
WASHINGTON — Life is "strenuous and stressful" when you don’t have running water, Benton County resident Mike Frazee told lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Thursday.
"I live in rural Northwest Arkansas, an area of great natural beauty, but where access to basic services like drinking water can be extremely difficult," he said.
The figure is higher in Arkansas: 3.6 percent.
"In my part of the world, people drive every day, thousands of miles a year, to haul water from a coin-operated water machine to their homes, and if their water station is broke or there’s bad weather conditions, you might have to go several days without water," Frazee said.
In 2012, it drilled wells for the Frazees and five other Arkansas families, loaning them up to $11,000 each to cover the costs.
In an interview, Margaret Martens, the trade association’s executive director, said Arkansas was the group’s pilot project.
Since then, 24 additional wells have been completed in Northwest Arkansas.
And more wells are on the way.
Those who get assistance are "low-income Americans," Martens said, and the benefits are long-lasting.