While some upstate counties are suffering through drought warnings and restrictions as the latest heat wave slogs on, the Big Apple’s water supply is in good shape.
City officials said the reservoirs that feed water to the five boroughs are holding up well, despite just 2 inches of rain this month – 1 inches below average for this time of year.
That’s because most of the state relies on ground water, like wells, while New York City gets all of its drinking water from upstate reservoirs.
“It’s remarkable. We have enormous storage capacity,” Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Joel Miele said of the city’s reservoirs, which store up to 550 billion gallons of water. “We rely almost exclusively on rainfall.”
Miele noted that people are “asked to be as water-conscious as possible” in Gotham, as the reservoirs are about 11 percent lower than normal for this time of year – but stressed the situation will be OK for some time.
Yesterday morning, the city’s three reservoir systems – the Delaware, Catskill and Croton – were at 79.6 percent capacity, officials said. Miele said New York consumes about 1.3 billion gallons of water a day.
The entire state is under a drought watch, which means people are being asked to voluntarily cut down on their water use. Eighteen counties are under a more serious drought warning, state officials said.
The recent hot spells, combined with a lack of rainfall, have affected the region’s water levels.
Meanwhile, New Jersey environmental officials spent the day correcting a false report saying the state was headed immediately for a drought emergency.
The state is under a drought alert, with its reservoirs at 75 percent capacity – 8 percent lower than usual for this time of year, according to Amy Collings, a spokeswoman for the state’s Department of Environmental Protection.
In 35 municipalities in New Jersey, water companies have imposed their own restrictions, Collings said.