Dive Brief:
- As New York City faces a historic drought and wildfires in public parks, officials are urging city agencies and residents to conserve water and mitigate fire risk.
- After a fire burned two acres of wooded area in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park on Friday night, New York Mayor Eric Adams announced Saturday that the city is banning grilling in city parks while drought conditions continue.
- Earlier this month, city officials ordered agencies to update and prepare to implement water conservation plans and encouraged residents to use less water such as by taking shorter showers and running dishwashers only when full.
Dive Insight:
October was New York City’s driest on record and also brought the city its second-longest recorded streak of time without rain, according to the city. Mayor Adams declared a drought watch in the city on Nov. 2. This dryness, combined with unseasonably high temperatures, is showing New York City residents climate change risks they are “not used to seeing,” New York City Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Rohit Aggarwala said in a statement on Saturday.
The dry weather also means less inflow to replenish the city’s reservoirs, Aggarwala said in a Nov. 2 statement. “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,” Adams said in a statement earlier this month.
The recent weather has fueled wildfires in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Many New York City residents woke up Saturday to the smell of smoke and air quality alerts triggered by brush fires in the boroughs of Brooklyn and the Bronx, as well as in New Jersey.
“This fall, New York City is officially a dry town,” Deputy Mayor for Operations Meera Joshi said in a statement on Saturday. “Last night’s fire in Brooklyn’s backyard, Prospect Park, is a stark reminder of the dangers of this drought.”
Beyond banning grilling in parks, city officials reminded residents that fireworks and tapping streetlights for electricity remain illegal across the city. Smoking also remains illegal throughout the parks system.
Meanwhile, New York City Department of Environmental Protection staff and police are helping local and state first responders fight wildfires upstate to protect the watersheds that supply the city.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul told News 12 Hudson Valley on Monday that the wildfires in the state indicate a “new normal” amid climate change. “We're used to far more rain and precipitation in the fall, which would stop a fire like this from spreading,” she said. “We can't count on that anymore.”
