TRENTON — The state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) declared a drought warning Nov. 13, a significant uptick from a drought watch, according to Gov. Phil Murphy.
During an online news conference the same day on drought and wildfires, he said every resident in the state needs to conserve water and avoid lighting any outdoor fires, including grills and fire pits.
Murphy said unseasonably dry conditions throughout the northeastern U.S. has produced what he termed a “staggering” number of wildfires.
“Since early October, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service has responded to 537 fires,” he said. “To put that in context, that is 500 more fires than we saw during the exact same period last year, which put differently is a 1,300% increase.”
Murphy thanked the members of the Forest Fire Service for working “heroically and tirelessly to extinguish these fires.”
A small amount of rain earlier in the month was not enough to relieve drought conditions and it appears the lack of rainfall will not be ending any time soon, including a forecast of a dry winter, he said.
“This drought could grow more severe, which may eventually require mandatory water restrictions,” Murphy said. “We’re not there yet, and if we all act accordingly now, we can hopefully avoid that outcome.”
He said the DEP recently released a statewide water supply plan that offers up-to-date information on how climate change is affecting the state’s water supply.
Murphy said the drought is just one example of how a changing climate is affecting the state today.
“So now more than ever New Jersey’s commitment to combatting and adapting to climate change is unwavering and unshakable. Regardless of which administration is empowered at the federal level, our state is not going to back down,” he said.
DEP Commissioner Shawn LaTourette said the agency does continuous “90-day look-backs” on precipitation, stream flow, reservoir storage and unconfined ground waters. The state receives its drinking water from both groundwater sources and surface water sources, he said.
“New Jersey has experienced an extraordinarily persistent period of dry weather since mid-August,” LaTourette said.
He said the state needs several months of at least average rain if not substantially above average to emerge from these conditions.
The state has four stages of drought concern: normal rainfall, a watch condition, a warning condition and an emergency condition.
The current warning condition affects supply side actions rather than the consumer side, LaTourette said. He said the DEP is trying to prevent a water emergency.
Residents should voluntarily conserve water, LaTourette said.
The last drought watch was issued in 2022 and the last drought warning was in 2016.
DEP Forest and Natural Lands Administrator Greg McLaughlin said the forest service uses the Keetch-Byram Drought Index (KBDI), which measures the dryness of fuels on the forest floor such as pine needles, branches and twigs. He said the scale reaches 800 at its maximum and the state is currently measuring 748 on the KBDI.
“These numbers have never been seen by the Forest Fire Service in our 118-year history,” he said.
Since 2000, the average number of wildfires in the state in a given year is approximately 1,100, which has been exceeded this year by almost 30%, McLaughlin said.
He said the amount of acres burned is triple the average amount from 4,000 acres to 11,000 acres.
Residents should contain any ashes from a wood stove or fireplace within fireproof containers and keep flammable materials such as leaves, sticks and firewood away from their homes, McLaughlin said.
LaTourette said at one point two weeks ago, multiple major wildfires, those exceeding 100 acres, are taking place in the state.
On a question of concern of a salt front on the lower Delaware River impacting water intake for some New Jersey towns, LaTourette said DEP continuously monitors the location of the salt front.
State geologist Steve Domber said the level of the salt front in the Delaware Estuary is higher than average for this time of year but is being managed by reservoir releases in both the upper and lower basins.
– By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
