diff --git a/src/table.ts b/src/table.ts
index 8d0f63b29..fa50f2f11 100644
--- a/src/table.ts
+++ b/src/table.ts
@@ -751,6 +751,7 @@ Please use the format 'prezzy' or '${instance.name}/tables/prezzy'.`);
     let userCanceled = false;
     const userStream = new PassThrough({
       objectMode: true,
+      readableHighWaterMark: 0,
       transform(row, _encoding, callback) {
         if (userCanceled) {
           callback();
diff --git a/test/readrows.ts b/test/readrows.ts
index 1a85feb8e..265125c34 100644
--- a/test/readrows.ts
+++ b/test/readrows.ts
@@ -223,7 +223,7 @@ describe('Bigtable/ReadRows', () => {
   });
 
   // TODO: enable after https://github.com/googleapis/nodejs-bigtable/issues/1286 is fixed
-  it.skip('should be able to stop reading from the read stream when reading asynchronously', function (done) {
+  it('should be able to stop reading from the read stream when reading asynchronously', function (done) {
     if (process.platform === 'win32') {
       this.timeout(60000); // it runs much slower on Windows!
     }
@@ -252,6 +252,7 @@ describe('Bigtable/ReadRows', () => {
     // Transform stream
     const transform = new Transform({
       objectMode: true,
+      writableHighWaterMark: 0,
       transform: (row, _encoding, callback) => {
         setTimeout(() => {
           callback(null, row);