A temporal comparison of drought impacts and responses in the New York City metropolitan area

Climate impact analyses seldom examine temporal changes in the impacts and responses associated with climate anomalies. Newspaper reports, quantitative agricultural and water resource data and a survey of drought sensitive segments of society are used to compare the impacts and responses of a 1995 drought in the New York City metropolitan area to those experienced during five previous droughts. Impacts related to surface water supplies dominated each of the drought periods studied. Over time, however, changes in water consumption habits and available reservoir capacity lead to an increase in impact severity for similar meteorological conditions. To account for these non-climatic influences on water storage, a method to adjust for trends in available reservoir storage and water use is developed and implemented. Once adjusted, a fairly strong (R-2 = 70.9%) exponential relationship exists between the minimum reservoir level and Palmer Drought Severity Index experienced during each drought period. Unadjusted levels exhibit a considerably weaker (R-2 = 49.0%) relationship. Changes in water consumption and reservoir capacity also influenced the enactment of voluntary and ultimately mandatory water conservation measures. These restrictions were responsible for business and industrial impacts that varied through time as technology evolved and societal attitudes changed. Minor time-dependent changes were also evident in agricultural and wildfire impacts.