Rice uses a lot of water for cultivation. Arkansas aquifers in rice country suffer from compaction and deeper water table levels.
Of course it was the Israelis who perfected drip irrigation and with rice too. This is one of several companies marketing Israeli tech. 70% less water use on par with or less than corn per unit of starch. Rice is a C3 plant so it is already less efficient than C4 corn in photosynthesis.
https://www.netafim.com/en/crop-knowledge/rice/