The Ashokan Reservoir is in Ulster County, New York. The system of upstate reservoirs that serves water to New York City is at 63 percent capacity due to the drought, down from the normal 79 percent capacity.
Important Takeaways:
- New Yorkers have been told to take shorter showers after the city on Monday issued its first drought warning in 22 years after months of little rain.
- New York City officials had already implemented water-conservation protocols when Mayor Eric Adams upgraded the drought warning yesterday.
- Water-saving measures planned for the coming weeks will include washing buses and subway cars less frequently and limiting water use for fountains and golf courses, the mayor said in a press conference on Monday.
- ‘Our city vehicles may look a bit dirtier, and our subways may look a bit dustier, but it’s what we have to do to delay or stave off a more serious drought emergency,’ Adams noted.
- The measure comes after fires broke out across the region in the last few days amid unexpectedly drier-than-usual conditions.
- Last week, a park on the northern tip of Manhattan caught fire, sending smoke billowing across the city – less than a week after a brush fire in Brooklyn´s Prospect Park.
- Meanwhile, New York City’s fire department said it had responded to 229 brush fires from October 29 to November 12.
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