SULLIVAN — It’s been a hot and dry summer with abnormally low rainfall throughout much of the region. A drive around Sullivan County will reveal lawns turned brown and trees looking wilted.

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM), which is updated each Thursday to show the location and intensity of droughts across the country using a five-category system, more than half of Sullivan County is classified “abnormally dry.”

Although that is the lowest category of intensity, those impacts are still being felt. The Town of Fallsburg has been asking its residents to restrict water usage in recent weeks.

The Village of Wurtsboro recently sent out a stage 1 water restriction notice to minimize unnecessary water usage.

According to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Sullivan County had the 10th driest July out of the past 128 years on record, down 2.28 inches of rainfall from normal.

More than half of New York State, including Sullivan County, is under a drought watch.

While there are no statewide mandatory water use restrictions in place under a drought watch, residents are strongly encouraged to voluntarily conserve water and local public water suppliers may require conservation measures depending upon needs and conditions.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC) Fire Danger Rating Area (FDRA) said Sullivan was at “very high risk” last week.

County Fire Coordinator John Hauschild says the danger is still present.

“The streams are low, lakes are low, ponds are low. A lot of fire departments are going to alternative means of getting water,” Hauschild explained. "Our normal water sources, if there’s a major fire, are gone because they’re dried up.”

Hauschild pointed to a fire in Forestburgh Tuesday when firefighters had to call in multiple tankers from other departments to assist in providing water.

“It’s a bad situation. People have to conserve and be considerate of the dryness,” he said.