Runoff from rooftops is caught by gutters and channelled through downspouts to the cistern to supply water between rains. If necessary, water is hauled from other sources to refill cisterns during very dry weather. Nearly every northern and western Missouri farmstead had one or more wells or cisterns. Before community water supplies were developed, wells and cisterns also supplied people living in towns. Water supply is as important today as ever, but many things have changed since the days of the hand-dug well.
Most rural communities have public water supplies.
Rural public water supply districts supply many farms and rural residents, and ponds are widely used for watering livestock. Farms have also increased in size, so there are fewer people and farmsteads to supply. As a result, many of the wells and cisterns that were so important decades ago are no longer used or needed. In fact, they are no longer an asset but a serious liability. If kept in good repair, they present little threat to human safety, but many well and cistern covers were constructed from wood that can be weakened or distroyed by the elements.