For a few years in the late '30s, I lived with my Uncle Ingebrit's family in Svea Township, in Barnes County, North Dakota (20 miles south of Valley City) while my dad remained in China. During the years I was with my Uncle Ingebrit's family, while I was in high school, North Dakota suffered severe drought. Our home supply of water was a 70 foot deep well for the animals and a cistern. The well water was very hard, and not very good to drink. The cistern was buried in the ground alongside the house, and was filled by rainwater from the roof which was filtered through a brick filter. The cistern supplied a pump in the kitchen so we had water directly to the kitchen which was usable but flat and untasty.
The earliest manifestation of drought was that the well for the animals ran dry. Fortunately, for our location, there was a spring on a side road some 3 miles away. It had a full-time flow of delicious water. We would pump the well dry, then put 3 barrels on the trailer, drive to the spring, pump the barrels full with a hand pump. Then we would haul them home to fill the water troughs for the animals or the cistern for the house. We'd have to take one or two trailer-loads every day, as the 3 barrels just about covered the cattle - especially if the regular well provided some water. I don't remember how long this pattern persisted, but I estimate it was a month or two in each of 3 successive years. In the driest times, we hauled 2 trailer loads, and one at other times. It was a sad time when we first had to go to the spring during the season, and a cause for celebration when we had rain so we didn't have to haul water.