Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg today met with students of PS 128Q in Middle Village, Queens to urge water conservation. The Mayor read to the students of Mrs. Milly Mikoleski, 2^nd grade class from the book, The Magic School Bus at the Waterworks. The book is a cooperative effort between Scholastic Press and the New York City Department of Environmental Protection and teaches young people about water conservation and New York's water system.

"New York City is in the midst of the worst droughts in a decade," said Mayor Bloomberg. "Conservation is the key to getting us through this challenge. The Magic School Bus at the Waterworks teaches our students about the importance of saving this most precious resource and explains the magnitude and complexity of New York's water system in a manner that is fun, interesting and educational."

The Magic School Bus at the Waterworks follows the adventure of Ms. Frizzle's class as they take a field trip to the New York City Waterworks. The children travel through the system, donning SCUBA gear to explore the New York's water tunnels and flying through the clouds in their magic school bus to learn about water vapor, condensation and the formation of clouds. DEP distributes the books in schools through coordination with the Board of Education. Originally issued in 1990, the book was most recently revised last summer.

New York City reservoir system entered a Drought Watch on Sunday, December 23. A Drought Watch, the first phase in the City's Drought Management Plan, is declared when there is less than a fifty percent chance that the reservoirs of either the Delaware System or Catskill System will be full by June 1, when the reservoirs are normally full. Without significant precipitation in the watershed soon, the water supply system will enter into a Drought Warning, the second phase of the Drought Management Plan. A Drought Warning was declared on Sunday, January 27, when the chance of refilling either the Catskill or Delaware System reservoirs first became less than 33%. These determinations are reached through careful analyses of projected reservoir operations and the historical records of reservoir levels, precipitation and runoff.

A drought emergency is declared when there is a reasonable probability that, without stringent measures to reduce consumption, a protracted dry period would cause the City's reservoirs to be drained. In a drought emergency, a series of mandatory restrictions become effective during three different stages. As of Monday, March 11, 2002 New York's reservoirs were at 49.9% of capacity. Normal capacity for this time of year is 87.2%. Since Mayor Bloomberg announced the drought warning on January 27^th and urged New Yorkers to conserve water, consumption is down by approximately 30 million gallons a day.

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