NYC declares drought watch, asks residents to conserve water
NEW YORK CITY, New York: After a parched October here and in much of the United States, New York’s residents are facing a drought watch and were urged to take shorter showers, fix dripping faucets, and otherwise conserve water.
A drought watch is the first of three potential levels of water-saving directives, and Mayor Eric Adams pitched it in a social media video to ward off the possibility of a worse shortage in the United States’ most populous city.
The mayor directed city agencies to prepare water conservation measures. He urged residents to help by conserving water, such as turning off taps while brushing and sweeping rather than hosing sidewalks.
The mayor also exhorted residents to report opened-up fire hydrants and other street leaks. The recommendation comes days after the city fixed a leaky Brooklyn hydrant that fed a homespun goldfish pond on the sidewalk.
Last month, Central Park saw only 0.01 inches of rain, compared to the usual October average of 4.4 inches, marking the driest October in over 150 years.
Complicating the problem, the city is repairing a big, leaky aqueduct that carries water from the Catskill region, so residents are relying more on reservoirs in the city’s northern suburbs. The mayor’s office said that that area got 0.81 inches of rain last month, about one-fifth the October average.
New York City uses 1.1 billion gallons of water daily, down 35 percent from its 1979 peak, thanks partly to better leak detection. Nearly half the country faced a “flash drought” last month, with unusually warm Halloween temperatures in the Northeast reaching the high 70s to low 80s (2428 degrees C) from New York to Maine.