Some of our new neighbors could really go for a drink of water right now

The new street trees are equipped with green watering bags in the first year. Fill them, and they will slowly release the water.

If there’s a young street tree on your block, it’s going to need your help.

Casey Trees is out with a timely reminder that new trees need 25 gallons of water every week to survive. Under the current dry conditions, we can’t count on the rain to do the watering, and even if DC weren’t in a drought, the warming temperatures would increase the need.

Reminders help, and Casey has resumed its summertime watering alerts, which arrive each week through September in its newsletter, The Leaflet. Sign up here.

Based on historical weather patterns, forecasts and other factors, the alerts will advise you on whether watering will be needed. You can also take Casey’s “25 to Stay Alive” watering pledge to receive a free rain gauge.

That tree counts as “new” even if it has been there for a couple of years.

“New trees need water twice per week for the first year, once every two weeks for the next two years,” Vera Ertem of DDOT Urban Forestry told us in 2017.