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 spell.
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, amidst the driest spell 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 in city records dating to 1869, officials said.
Conserving water can slow the depletion rate of H2O stored in city reservoirs, potentially postponing or avoiding a serious shortage.
City residents are asked to fill tubs only halfway when taking baths, turn off faucets while shaving or brushing their teeth and not flush toilets unnecessarily. Toilets account for nearly a third of an average home’s indoor water consumption, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Other measures include running dishwashers and washing machines only when full, using short cycles, and sweeping driveways and sidewalks clean rather than using a hose.
“We must now take immediate action,” said Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Rohit Aggarwala. “All of us who rely on the city’s water supply, including 8.3 million consumers in the city and another 1.5 million upstate, must make concerted efforts to conserve water.”
The city’s DEP manages the largest municipal water supply system in the country, with water supplied 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 upstate water supply, got only 0.81 inches of rain in October, compared with historical averages of 3.81 inches for the month.
A drought watch is the first of three levels of water conservation declarations, followed, if needed, by a drought warning and a drought emergency.