The water levels in the Arkansas River are extremely low.
"Right now the flow is at 10 percent of the normal flow," city engineer Gary Janzen said.
They are so low that the Delano District has had to change its Christmas celebration.
"They were going to have boats in the river called a flotilla, but unfortunately we haven't had very much rain this year.," Delano business owner Nancy Lawrence said.
So parade organizers in the Delano District changed their plans. They'll still light up boats for the public, but they'll be docked.
"You plan, plan, plan and if you hit a speed bump, you keep going," Lawrence said. "You jump over that, you go onto something else."
Which was a good plan, because it will take a lot to refill the Arkansas River.
"We haven't had any precipitation, to speak of, for such a long time, we think that it would take six to nine inches of rain to take us out of this drought," Janzen said.
So event organizers are hoping for more rain next year. "We are going to have water in the river," said Lawrence.
