Turn off the taps, New York!
Officials declared a rare citywide drought watch Saturday, urging New Yorkers to help conserve water after a historically rainless period.
Residents should take shorter showers, fix leaky faucets, report open fire hydrants to 311 and more, Mayor Adams said in a statement.
“New Yorkers come together in times of crisis, and right now, in the midst of the driest period in recent memory, we need New Yorkers to do just that and conserve as much water as possible,” Adams said.
Last month was the driest October on record, with the second longest rainless streak recorded in city records dating back to 1869, officials said.
Water conservation can slow the rate of depletion of water stored in city reservoirs, potentially delaying or avoiding a serious shortage.
City residents are being asked to only fill their bathtubs halfway when taking a bath, to turn off taps when shaving or brushing their teeth and not to flush toilets unnecessarily. Toilets account for nearly a third of a home’s average indoor water use, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Other measures include running dishwashers and washing machines only when they are full, using short cycles, and sweeping driveways and sidewalks rather than using a garden hose.
“We must now take immediate action,” said Rohit Aggarwala, commissioner of the Ministry of Environmental Protection. “All of us who rely on the city’s water supply, including 8.3 million consumers in the city and 1.5 million in the Upstate, must make concerted efforts to conserve water. »
The city’s DEP operates the nation’s largest municipal water system, with water sourced from a watershed extending more than 125 miles from the city, with 19 reservoirs and three controlled lakes.
The Croton watershed, the city’s oldest water supply in the upstate, received just 0.81 inches of rain in October, compared to historical averages of 3.81 inches for the month.
A drought watch is the first of three levels of water conservation declarations, followed, if necessary, by a drought warning and a drought emergency.
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