LANGDON (AP) - The manager of a rural water district says water is short in parts of Cavalier and Walsh counties, in part due to heavy farm use.

About 750 water users in the two counties are facing water shortages and rationing this week, said Langdon Rural Water District Manager Alvin Carlson.

Water is being rationed in the communities of Adams, Fairdale, Hampden and Munich, as well as in rural areas, he said.

The rural water district gets its water from the city of Langdon. Carlson said the city has plenty of water but the rural district cannot refill its reservoir fast enough to keep up with the demand. He said the district is building a new pumping system to prevent the problem from happening again next year.

"We've never had this much water going out in this short of time," Carlson said. "We've used almost 600,000 gallons in 1½ days. Our system is just not designed to handle that kind of volume."

Heavy rain had stalled field work and when farmers got back in the fields early this week, the demand for water was more than the rural water district could handle, Carlson said.

Farmers have larger tanks to fill, he said.

"In the past, they filled 1,000- and 2,000-gallon tanks. Now, they have 6,000- and 8,000-gallon tanks on tanker trucks," he said.