By Thanh Truong, NBC News

WARREN COUNTY, Mo. --  There's a desperate search for water under way throughout Missouri where 95 percent of the state is enduring extreme levels of drought.  In the rural area of Truxton, farmer Rusty Lee estimates he'll likely lose 40 percent of his crops.

We walked through his withering fields where rows of yellow squash lay shriveled under the sun.  Lee said he's been trying to explain the severity of the drought to his 6–year-old son William.

"I try not to talk about our losses money-wise, economic-wise, but I want him to understand that this drought … will go down in history and that he probably won't see something like this in his lifetime," Lee said.

He is one of more than 3,700 farmers and ranchers in Missouri who have been approved for emergency well drilling.  Gov. Jay Nixon issued an executive order last month for the state to pay up to 90 percent of the cost to dig new or deeper wells for farmers severely impacted by the drought.  The farmers will pay the remainder of that cost.  So far, the state has set aside more than $18 million to dig these new wells.

"We've been praying for rain, you don't know how much these wells help us," said long-time cattle rancher Michele Christopherson.

Early Thursday morning, her farm was bustling with noise.  A two-person crew, equipped with heavy drilling equipment, started digging the 540 feet necessary to hit fresh water.  Christopherson's current well doesn't have enough capacity to keep her 100 head of cattle hydrated.  She's had several die from the heat and several others have lost their calves.  Between the $10,000 she's already had to pay for hay and the estimated $12,000 she'll have to pay for the new well, Christopherson said this year will be one of losses.

"We're tough, that's how you got be when you're doing this kind of business, but nobody can sit there and say they can handle that kind of hit.  We certainly can't," said Christopherson.

By noon, the crew hit pay dirt.  Water gushed out of the ground.  Christopherson stood near her fence, smiling at the sight.

A few miles down the road, fellow cattle rancher Peggy Ebbesmeyer was eagerly waiting her turn.  The pond that usually serves as the main watering hole for cows is drying up and the little water left in it is warm and green.

"My cows lose five pounds a day by drinking this water.  There's not much I can do without rain," said Ebbesmeyer.

To supplement the rancid water, she's been hauling water from a town 12 miles away to her farm.  That's been a daily trip for two months.  Ebbesemeyer figures she's lost between $40,000-$50,000 after several head of cattle died and others were sold early.  

But for now, she will likely have to wait until the end of August -- along with thousands of other farmers -- for the drills to arrive.  

Have you been affected by the worst drought in more than 50 years? Share your photos with us on Instagram, Tumblr or Twitter with the tag #Drought2012. You can also upload your photos in the box below. 

By Duncan Golestani
NBC News

JORDAN VALLEY -- Faisel Njoom undoubtedly has the best house in Auja. Drinking iced tea in the shade of his garden he talks with pride at being the biggest land owner in the village and the oranges and bananas that he once grew on his farm. Only later, standing in one of his dry and dusty fields in the Jordan Valley, does he become angry.

“Life without water is not a life,” he said as the sun began to set. “This land without water is like all the other deserts. We were born working this land.”

He says he couldn’t keep farming because the irrigation channels to his land began drying up in 2000. He, and many charities, blame the digging of a new well near the Auja Spring, designed to serve a nearby Israeli settlement.

For first time in many years there is water flowing in the spring long after winter has finished because rainfall has increased by a fifth over the last year. Otherwise, the spring would now be dry. Almotaz Abadi, a consultant to the Palestinian Water Authority, explained that, rainfall is the biggest factor contributing to water availability, but the Auja Spring has been adversely affected by other factors, principally the new well.

The reminder of how plentiful water used to be in Auja has reignited resentment -- a feeling shared widely among Palestinians in the occupied territories. The World Bank and international charities accuse Israel of denying enough water to the Palestinians. Ironically, it’s a situation made worse by the Oslo Peace Accords.

The Oslo II agreement in 1995 set up a joint water committee to oversee management of the aquifers in the West Bank. It was supposed to encourage consensus, but a World Bank report in 2009 concluded Israel dominated the process, taking 80 percent of the water resources.  (In recognizing that the Palestinian Water Authority’s powers were severely limited, the report also criticized its management abilities).

Agriculture is key to the Palestinian economy and its third largest employer. But it could be much bigger. The World Bank found that problems with irrigation are holding the sector back, especially when combined with the Separation Barrier cutting off land and access to wells.

Many Palestinians see this water divide as a way of increasing their dependency on Israel. Amnesty International estimates some 180,000 to 200,000 Palestinians living in rural communities have no access to running water. It means many have to buy water from Israeli tankers at high prices.

Israelis complain of water scarcity too. After much persuasion with an armed guard, NBC News was allowed to film inside Yitav, an Israeli settlement in the West Bank. It is indeed a green outpost in the desert, but the settlers say it comes at a high price – which they pay with their utility bills.

Israel’s Water Authority disputes the claims made by the World Bank and other charities. At their offices in Tel Aviv we were shown a map of locations where licenses have been granted for Palestinian wells, but never pumped. “You have to know most of the Palestinian cities in the West Bank have better access to water than residents in Amman, the capital of Jordan,” said Baruch Nager, Head of Water Administration for the West Bank.

Both sides have hydrological data to support their side of the argument, which makes it particularly hard to resolve.

Water is a ‘final status issue’ in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. No decisions will be taken on how control of the water is divided until there is a peace agreement. That, of course, has never looked further away.