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'Are we becoming Los Angeles now?' What New Yorkers can learn about living in a drought watch.

By

Ryan Kailath

Published Nov 12, 2024

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A woman walks on a sidewalk along a fence by the ocean with dry trees around her.

 

Spencer Platt / Getty

By

Ryan Kailath

Published Nov 12, 2024

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Manhattan had the driest October on record, and New York City remains on its first drought watch in 20 years as it aims to conserve water.

Despite the light rain over the weekend, New York City’s upstate reservoirs are even lower than they were last week.

The city uses roughly a billion gallons of water daily, according to Zach Iscol, the city’s commissioner of emergency management. That means reducing usage is much safer than relying on rain that might not come.

Although this is a new experience for many New York City natives, it’s familiar for tens of thousands of New Yorkers like myself who moved here from the west, where states from California to Texas have experienced chronic drought conditions for decades.

For us, many of New York City’s recommended water conservation tactics – shorter showers, turning the tap off while shaving or washing dishes – are as ingrained as earthquake drills and sun safety. “If it’s yellow, let it mellow” is a phrase we learned in elementary school — and while both states require low-flush toilets in many buildings, California’s standards are even stricter.

For many of us, moving to New York provided the ultimate luxury: profligate water usage, like flushing every time you pee.

Brooks Hudgins, a musician who decamped from Los Angeles to Williamsburg in 2019, said 90-second “navy showers” were the norm growing up. Five years after moving here, he’s begun to allow himself a longer bath time, but remains shocked by the way New Yorkers use water.

“When the fire hydrants are open and just running for days at a time? I see that and I physically shudder,” Hudgins said.

The threat of local brush and wildfires are also relatively new to many New Yorkers, who were bewildered and alarmed by the smell of smoke after this weekend's fires, including a blaze in Prospect Park and the nearby Jennings Creek fire, which has burned 3,500 acres downstate and is roughly 20% contained as of this writing.

New York City and much of the tristate area are on “red flag warning,” according to the National Weather Service, which means that fires can spark easily and spread quickly due to dry conditions and high winds.

Grilling in city parks has been temporarily banned, and New Yorkers who might smoke are cautioned to make sure their butts are fully extinguished, though smoking in parks is already disallowed.

“If you see smoke or fire, please report it,” Iscol said. “The Prospect Park fire on Friday night was reported by somebody walking through the park that evening.”

Iscol said that this is normally the time of year when rains refill our water system, but that with an unseasonably dry November and possibly December in the forecast, every drop saved today is one that remains in the reservoir bank for later usage.

“We’re trying to get ahead of this, and if we’re able to conserve a bit a day, that will help us in the traditionally drier months ahead,” Iscol said.

In suburban areas, watering lawns is best limited to nighttime or early morning hours to avoid rapid evaporation. Here are some other tips the city recommends:

Hudgins, the California native, was shocked to read about New York’s brush and wildfires over the weekend.

“Are we becoming Los Angeles now?” he said.

He said the water wars that are a part of California culture – where streets are named after aqueduct engineers and water issues form the plot for Hollywood blockbusters – may become better known out east.

Hudgins may have gotten used to a more relaxed lifestyle around water usage in his time in New York, but he finds it easy to switch back into low-water mode when called upon.

“I moved to the city to waste water,” Hudgins joked. “But now I’m doing my part.”

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new york city

Ryan Kailath

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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

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