New York City is under a drought watch for the first time in over 20 years

After a historically warm and dry start to fall, New York City is now under a drought watch—a first for the city in more than 20 years.

The reservoirs that supply water for New York City’s more than 8 million residents are under capacity after record-low levels of rain, sitting at 64% of capacity, compared to a typical 79%. In October, just 0.87 inches of rain fell on those reservoirs, compared to the historical average of 4.12 inches.

October had the second-longest rainless streak according to city records, which that date back to 1869. Warm fall temperatures haven’t helped—on Halloween, temperatures in New York City reached the upper 70s.

“October was the driest October on record, which has resulted in minimal inflow to replenish the reservoirs,” NYC Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Rohit Aggarwala said in a statement. “Because of this, a drought watch has been declared, and we must now take immediate action. 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.”

What is a drought watch?

New York City has three levels for water conservation declarations; a drought watch is the first level, followed by a drought warning and then a drought emergency. A drought watch triggers government agencies to begin planning for ways to reduce water consumption, and is a symbol for residents to be more conscientious about not wasting water. A drought warning would put those agency plans into place, while a drought emergency would mean mandatory water use restrictions.

The city is “probably a couple months away” from a drought emergency, Aggarwala told reporters, but the city could enter a drought warning within a few weeks.

The last time New York City was under a drought watch was in December 2001, when reservoir storage was at just 44%. That became a drought warning by January 2002, and then a drought emergency by April. Then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg banned car washing, spraying sidewalks with hoses, and ornamental fountains. Restaurants were not allowed to offer customers glasses of water unsolicited. (The emergency lifted that October, though the drought didn’t end until January 2003.)

That drought affected much of the Northeast, as do the current dry conditions. The EPA shared this week that New York and New Jersey residents were under drought watch, with the dry conditions leading to wildfire risks.

What can New York residents do to conserve water?

Though residents aren’t yet under water conservation mandates, they can take steps now to slow the rate at which city reservoirs are depleting. That could postpone or even get rid of any further drought threat, officials say. One famous example of staving off more extreme drought happened in Cape Town, South Africa, in 2018; the city was months away from completely depleting its reservoirs when a public awareness campaign pulled it back from that brink. Other cities have since looked to that example as they face their own issues with water access.

“By starting to save water now, we’re doing everything we can to make sure that we can water our parks and fill our pools come summer, and to stave off a more serious drought emergency,” Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement.

New Yorkers are advised to report open fire hydrants and street leaks; not flush the toilet unnecessarily; take shorter showers; fix leaks; and run their dishwasher or washing machine only when full. (The city has other water saving tips here.)

Climate change in NYC and beyond

New York City isn’t alone in experiencing an exceptionally dry, warm autumn. During the last week of October, all but two states in the entire country didn’t have at least moderate drought conditions. The outliers were Alaska and Kentucky. Some regions in the South and Midwest saw rain after that, but heading into the first week of November, drought conditions worsened in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic areas, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Drought is even hitting states across the Southeast, despite the fact that Hurricane Helene dropped record amounts of rain in September. It’s another example of the way climate change is leading to all sorts of weather extremes. Climate change increases the odds of worsening drought, experts say, and has made the droughts longer, more frequent, and more severe.

Climate change also hinders how regions recover from drought, making that recovery take longer, according to a study published in October. “Climate change has fundamentally changed the odds of getting out of drought. It has weighted the dice,” Emily Williams, the study’s lead author and a postdoctoral scholar with UC Merced’s Sierra Nevada Research Institute said in a statement. “This is happening because of warming in summer months, and a good portion of it is because of human-caused climate change.”