diff --git a/zuul/driver/gerrit/gerritconnection.py b/zuul/driver/gerrit/gerritconnection.py
index c9bd01c30a..1db4fae286 100644
--- a/zuul/driver/gerrit/gerritconnection.py
+++ b/zuul/driver/gerrit/gerritconnection.py
@@ -340,6 +340,9 @@ class GerritWatcher(threading.Thread):
             gerrit_connection.sched.zk_client,
             gerrit_connection.connection_name,
             "watcher")
+        self._connection_lost_event = threading.Event()
+        gerrit_connection.sched.zk_client.on_connection_lost_listeners.append(
+            self._connection_lost_event.set)
         self.keepalive = keepalive
         self._stopped = False
 
@@ -357,8 +360,10 @@ class GerritWatcher(threading.Thread):
     def _listen(self, stdout, stderr):
         poll = select.poll()
         poll.register(stdout.channel)
-        while not self._stopped:
+        while not (self._stopped or self._connection_lost_event.is_set()):
             ret = poll.poll(self.poll_timeout)
+            if self._connection_lost_event.is_set():
+                return
             for (fd, event) in ret:
                 if fd == stdout.channel.fileno():
                     if event == select.POLLIN:
@@ -410,6 +415,7 @@ class GerritWatcher(threading.Thread):
                 self.log.exception("Exception on ssh event stream with %s:",
                                    self.gerrit_connection.connection_name)
                 self._stop_event.wait(5)
+            self._connection_lost_event.clear()
 
     def stop(self):
         self.log.debug("Stopping watcher")
@@ -431,6 +437,9 @@ class GerritPoller(threading.Thread):
             connection.sched.zk_client, connection.connection_name, "poller")
         self._stopped = False
         self._stop_event = threading.Event()
+        self._connection_lost_event = threading.Event()
+        connection.sched.zk_client.on_connection_lost_listeners.append(
+            self._connection_lost_event.set)
 
     def _makePendingCheckEvent(self, change, uuid, check):
         return {'type': 'pending-check',
@@ -484,10 +493,10 @@ class GerritPoller(threading.Thread):
 
     def _run(self):
         last_start = time.time()
-        while not self._stopped:
+        while not (self._stopped or self._connection_lost_event.is_set()):
             next_start = last_start + self.poll_interval
             self._stop_event.wait(max(next_start - time.time(), 0))
-            if self._stopped:
+            if self._stopped or self._connection_lost_event.is_set():
                 break
             last_start = time.time()
 
@@ -502,6 +511,7 @@ class GerritPoller(threading.Thread):
             except Exception:
                 self.log.exception("Exception on Gerrit poll with %s:",
                                    self.connection.connection_name)
+            self._connection_lost_event.clear()
 
     def stop(self):
         self.log.debug("Stopping watcher")
diff --git a/zuul/driver/git/gitwatcher.py b/zuul/driver/git/gitwatcher.py
index cf780a351b..8556e49c2f 100644
--- a/zuul/driver/git/gitwatcher.py
+++ b/zuul/driver/git/gitwatcher.py
@@ -60,6 +60,9 @@ class GitWatcher(threading.Thread):
             connection.sched.zk_client,
             connection.connection_name,
             election_name)
+        self._connection_lost_event = threading.Event()
+        connection.sched.zk_client.on_connection_lost_listeners.append(
+            self._connection_lost_event.set)
         # This is used by the test framework
         self._event_count = 0
         self._pause = False
@@ -139,7 +142,7 @@ class GitWatcher(threading.Thread):
                 self._event_count += 1
 
     def _run(self):
-        while not self._stopped:
+        while not (self._stopped or self._connection_lost_event.is_set()):
             if not self._pause:
                 self._poll()
                 # Polling wait delay
@@ -153,6 +156,7 @@ class GitWatcher(threading.Thread):
                 self.watcher_election.run(self._run)
             except Exception:
                 self.log.exception("Unexpected issue in _run loop:")
+            self._connection_lost_event.clear()
 
     def stop(self):
         self.log.debug("Stopping watcher")
diff --git a/zuul/zk/__init__.py b/zuul/zk/__init__.py
index 6f19ed6049..df3f5e1832 100644
--- a/zuul/zk/__init__.py
+++ b/zuul/zk/__init__.py
@@ -61,6 +61,7 @@ class ZooKeeperClient(object):
         self._last_retry_log: int = 0
         self.on_connect_listeners: List[Callable[[], None]] = []
         self.on_disconnect_listeners: List[Callable[[], None]] = []
+        self.on_connection_lost_listeners: List[Callable[[], None]] = []
 
     def _connectionListener(self, state):
         """
@@ -70,6 +71,11 @@ class ZooKeeperClient(object):
         """
         if state == KazooState.LOST:
             self.log.debug("ZooKeeper connection: LOST")
+            for listener in self.on_connection_lost_listeners:
+                try:
+                    listener()
+                except Exception:
+                    self.log.exception("Exception calling listener:")
         elif state == KazooState.SUSPENDED:
             self.log.debug("ZooKeeper connection: SUSPENDED")
         else: