WOODSTOCK – McHenry County is in a drought, in case the brown lawns, dry ponds and knee-high July corn didn’t tip you off.

While officials at a county “drought summit” spent time Wednesday stating the obvious, they had a motive for doing so: namely that a big part of mitigating the drought’s effects rests with individual water users.

It’s been dry, thanks to a lack of summer rain and a very dry winter, and it’s likely going to get drier. The National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center predicts Illinois’ dry conditions will persist or get worse through September. Experts such as Cory Horton, county storm-water engineer, said governments and water users must cooperate.