By Michael Casey, The Associated Press
CONCORD, N.H. - Private wells across the Northeastern United States are drying up in the face of a punishing drought that has lasted for much of the summer.
Scores of homeowners from Vermont to Connecticut with shallow wells have in the past month found themselves depending upon relatives and neighbors for bottled water to bathe, cook, and drink. Those with much deeper, underground wells have largely been spared.
The drought, the worst seen in more than a decade, has been devastating to many farmers, has meant water restrictions in many places and is threatening to disrupt the region's fall foliage season that is so important to the tourism industry.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says about 2.3 million people, or 20 percent of the New England population, get their water from private wells.