Good morning. It's Tuesday. Today we'll see how New York is managing its groundwater amid a nationwide crisis. And, because it's Election Day, we'll catch up on contests to watch. |
 | | Education Images/Universal Images Group, via Getty Images |
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A nationwide groundwater crisis is draining underground layers of porous rock or sediment known as aquifers. This comes at a time when groundwater is more important than ever because of climate change, which is making rivers and streams less reliable as sources of water. |
Groundwater depletion involves more than tap water: It is also a problem for farmers, because irrigation from groundwater made the dry landscape in the West "marvelously productive," as Chris Scheuring, a water attorney with the California Farm Bureau and a family farmer, put it. |
How well is New York managing its groundwater? |
Like most states, New York has a lot of rules that govern the use of groundwater. Statewide, facilities that pump 100,000 gallons per day or more need a permit and have to self-report their annual withdrawals. These rules are designed to monitor and regulate big users of groundwater. |
But New York, like every other state to some degree, allows well owners to essentially operate on the honor system. Experts told us this leaves open the possibility of underreporting. You can see the incentives: Anyone who overdraws their permit is subject to fines and/or penalties of some sort. |
Does New York even know how many wells it has that tap its groundwater? |
Not really, and that's the case in almost all states because few, if any, record the number of household wells, and older wells are often exempt from registration requirements, even those that pump big volumes. |
In New York, data for all newly constructed water wells has been collected in Nassau, Suffolk, Kings and Queens counties since the 1930s. But water well construction data for other counties has been collected only since April 2000. |
In all, the state estimates there are approximately 935,000 water wells here in New York, but records are maintained for only about 300,000 of them. |
How do the regulations in the states bordering New York — New Jersey and Connecticut, mainly, but also Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Vermont — affect New York? |
Aquifers don't adhere to state boundaries, so groundwater issues in one state definitely can affect another — but there are no specific examples that come to mind. That could change in the future as erratic weather caused by climate change, including droughts, starts to draw down aquifers that don't get recharged with rainfall and snowmelt like they used to. |
Pumping groundwater for irrigation or to be used in big factories also can draw down streams and lakes and rivers. But it's a very complicated system. |
Some states, among them Vermont, generally exempt agricultural irrigation from their regulations. Agriculture is one of the top users of groundwater nationwide. In Vermont, dairy operations often don't have to report large-scale use. |
 | | Dave Sanders for The New York Times |
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There are district attorney races in the Bronx, Queens and Staten Island, but only Melinda Katz, the Queens district attorney, faces a challenger. Two statewide ballot measures involve a debt limit for small city school districts and the construction of sewage facilities. |
Here are some races to watch: |
- Two sitting City Council members are fighting over a redrawn district in southern Brooklyn. One of them — Ari Kagan, a former radio and television host from Belarus — recently switched parties and is now running as a Republican. The Democrat in the race, Justin Brannan, is a former punk rock guitarist who is the chair of the Council's Finance Committee.
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- In Bridgeport, Conn., surveillance videos caught people stuffing ballot drop boxes during the Democratic primary last month. A judge ordered a new primary but said he lacked the authority to postpone the general election, so it will be held today as planned. Then what? That remains to be seen.
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Prepare for a mostly cloudy day with temperatures in the high 60s. The clouds will clear for some sunshine in the afternoon before temps cool to a low around 45 in the evening. |
Suspended (Election Day). |
 | | Benjamin Norman for The New York Times |
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 | | Jefferson Siegel for The New York Times |
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"A very unfair trial," Donald Trump said at one point. At another point he called New York's attorney general, Letitia James, "this political hack" and said that she wanted to take his properties away, "like they do in communist China." |
In roughly four hours on the witness stand at his civil fraud trial, the former president was prickly, combative and rambling. My colleague Jonah E. Bromwich writes that Trump's appearance became a contest of irritated expressions between Justice Arthur Engoron and the former president: Engoron frowned, Trump glowered. Or, at another moment, the judge grinned sarcastically, and the firmer president smirked. |
Trump said he was more of an expert on real estate than anyone. He also said he had helped to assemble documents listing the values of his properties. "I would maybe on occasion have some suggestions," he said. |
The financial statements from the Trump Organization, which the judge in the case has already ruled "clearly contain fraudulent valuations," are at the center of the case. James accused Trump and other defendants of manipulating the statements to defraud banks and insurers. Trump's lawyers have already appealed the ruling that the statements contained fraud. |
Engoron became frustrated as he repeatedly sought to put the brakes on Trump, chastising him for delivering monologues. "This is not a political rally," Engoron told Trump at one point. |
As Trump was stepping down from the witness stand, Engoron turned to Trump and held up one hand as if to wave goodbye. Trump leaned in and appeared to say one word to the judge. The microphone did not pick it up. Outside the courtroom, Trump addressed the cameras for two minutes, saying that Monday was a sad day for America and that the case should be dismissed immediately. |
It was a summer evening in 1974, and I was on my way to visit my boyfriend, who lived on Ocean Avenue near Avenue J in Brooklyn. |
I had come from Queens and was reading a paperback novel, "Green Mansions" by William Henry Hudson, while waiting for the M train on an elevated platform. |
At one point, I took a step, and the book fell out of my hands onto the tracks. |
Suddenly, a tall young man jumped down, retrieved it, climbed back up and handed it to me with a smile on his face. |
It's been almost 50 years, and I am still hoping that he never did anything so dangerous again. |
Glad we could get together here. See you tomorrow. — J.B. |
| Kellina Moore and Ed Shanahan contributed to New York Today. You can reach the team at nytoday@nytimes.com. |
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