Water restrictions imposed as NYC faces drought

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Posted 8:27AM on Wednesday, April 3, 2002

NEW YORK - The lunchtime view of Lincoln Center Plaza spoke volumes. Instead of dancing waters in the plaza's famed ornamental fountain, a bone-dry labyrinth of steel pipes greeted visitors - the latest victim of drought restrictions. "It's a little scary," said Emily Fisher, surveying the waterless fountain. "But if it'll save water, it doesn't bother me." Mayor Michael Bloomberg declared a drought emergency in the city March 26, turning fountains dry, restricting sidewalk washing and making car washing harder. The restrictions took effect Monday. The city first declared a drought warning Jan. 27. Despite a 30-million-gallon drop in daily consumption, though, Bloomberg upped the urgency to an emergency. The tighter restrictions affect the city's 8 million residents and about 1 million suburbanites. Penalties range from $100 to $1,000, and more for repeat offenders. City Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe said the dry fountains - 55 of which are on city parkland - "serve as a reminder to all New Yorkers that they should save water." New York isn't alone. In February, Pennsylvania Gov. Mark S. Schweiker declared 24 counties under a drought emergency and called for reducing water usage by up to 15 percent. In neighboring New Jersey, statewide water-use restrictions also were imposed last month for the first time since 1999 when Gov. James E. McGreevey declared a drought emergency. In New York City, inspectors went out in advance of the restrictions to advise the public - sidewalks cannot be washed, for instance, and cars only with well water. The city's lawn-watering trucks will now be filled with water from several wells from around the city. Currently, the city's reservoirs are at 58.1 percent of capacity, compared with 95.3 percent of capacity under normal conditions. Three of seven main reservoirs are below 50 percent. City drought warnings have been issued in 1991 and 1995, but the last declared drought emergency was in 1989. At that time, water use averaged 1.4 billion gallons a day. "Our consumption of water is drastically lower than in the last drought emergency," said Geoffrey Ryan, a spokesman for the Department of Environmental Protection. He credited a variety of water conservation programs with lowering use to about 1.2 billion gallons a day. Benepe, the Parks Commissioner, said the restrictions are "a big handicap to our operation because the Parks Department is in charge of growing things." So Benepe put his hopes on a rainy April. "We're hoping for meteorological intervention," he said.