Syracuse, N.Y. — When Syracuse experienced severe water pressure problems last winter, a big assist came when the Onondaga County Water Authority began feeding some of its supply into the city’s system.
Less than a year later, the city is returning the favor.
As OCWA scrambles to maintain water supplies for six towns east of the city after a massive conduit ruptured in Cicero, Syracuse is pushing an extra 800,000 gallons per day into the town of DeWitt, said Robert Brandt, the city’s water commissioner.
On a typical day, the city provides DeWitt’s water department with about 400,000 gallons. That’s now up to 1.2 million gallons.
DeWitt, which supplies most of its residents directly, is using that extra city water to reduce what it normally draws from OCWA. While the main break that’s jeopardizing water service for thousands of residents is highly unusual, the cooperation among water districts to help each other through challenges isn’t, Brandt said.
“We work together,” Brandt said. “We coordinate together. We all try to do our part.”
In addition the extra water going to the town of DeWitt, the city has opened up a boundary gate in the area of Burnet Avenue and Thompson Road where OCWA provides some water directly to a more commercialized part of the town. In conjunction with that, OCWA is sending water from its western district into the city system. The maneuvers are helping OCWA to maintain pressure in that area without drawing down from its main storage tanks.
“We’re kind of pushing water through the system,” Brandt said.
The pipe rupture stopped water from flowing to six towns: DeWitt, Manlius, Pompey, Lenox, Lincoln and Sullivan. Normally, those towns on average use about 5 million gallons of water a day. To get through the crisis, officials are asking businesses and residents to cut usage so the overall number drops to 3.5 million gallons.
That area includes two of OCWA’s largest customers in the six towns affected by the water main break. Lotte Biologics, a pharmaceutical company, and Carr Street Generation Station, a natural gas power plant, each use more than 200,000 gallons of water per day.
Syracuse has also established a contract with Byrne Dairy to supply some water for its production facility in East Syracuse. The company is tapping into a city hydrant to fill up tankers that are bringing water to the plant. It’s adding up to about 100,000 gallons per day.
The city is providing the maximum amount of help it can to OCWA without compromising service to city customers, Brandt said.
