Parts of Long Island experiencing severe drought, joining other New York counties
WESTBURY, N.Y. -- Parts of Long Island now join Putnam and Dutchess counties in what's considered a severe drought. Staten Island and Brooklyn qualified for that status earlier this month.
There has been very little rainfall and that creates a fire danger.
As CBS2's Carolyn Gusoff reports, it's been so dry, Long Island officials are pleading with people to change the hours of their water use. It's not that Long Island is running out of water, but with so much demand all at once, it impacts water pressure needed for emergencies.
"I mowed it the other day, and it was like a dust bowl," West Islip resident Tom Comitello said.
He says he doesn't mind his dried up lawn; he's only hand-watering flowers.
"It's just too much waste of water," he said.
You can tell who is watering and who is not -- green lawns adjacent to brown, and in between, withered flowers. The heat and lack of rain are pushing some to water twice a day.
"You're finding that once a day is not even enough?" Gusoff asked one resident.
"No, it would look brown," he said
But Suffolk water officials are asking people to shift the timing of their lawn watering. With so many using sprinklers and showers early in the morning, the system is under stress.
"All of our elevated storage tanks that are full are draining because everyone is using water at the same time," Suffolk County Water Authority CEO Jeff Szabo said.
Underground aquifers have enough water, but so much peak demand impacts water pressure for emergencies.
"We are asking residents to go to their clocks, to change the timers on their clocks to move that time, to shift the time to either earlier in the evening -- 8 o'clock, 9 o'clock, and have them go off by midnight or so -- or in the late afternoon," Szabo said.
The plea comes as Long Island's entire South Shore is now in a severe drought, with half the average rainfall since June. Officials blame climate change for one of the driest summers in half a century.
They're asking for voluntary conservation, which is confusing because Nassau and Suffolk have different guidelines.
In Suffolk, there's no watering from 3-9 a.m.
On the East End, which includes Southampton, East Hampton and Southold, only essential water use is urged.
Nassau prohibits watering from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and requires odd/even day watering.
"People invest a lot of money so that their property looks great. They can still water, they just need to water at a different time," Szabo said.
Water pressure impacts more than your shower. It's essential for putting out fires.
"If there's things you don't have to do or you can wait 'til the evening when water usage kind of drops a bit, maybe that's when you run your dishwasher or your water appliances," Nassau County Chief Fire Marshal Michael Uttaro said.
Uttaro urges everyone to be extra careful around outdoor flames.
"People having their backyard fire pits, their barbecues, just make sure you put it out completely," he said.
Water authority officials on Long Island are working on a stronger long-term messaging plan. Conserving water needs to be more than a gentle ask when it's a matter a safety.