Syracuse, N.Y. — Repair work on a ruptured water transmission line is likely to go into the first full week of January, an official said Thursday.
That would add to the time that residents and businesses in six Central New York towns will need to conserve water.
Jeff Brown, the executive director of the Onondaga County Water Authority, said the timeline for the massive repair job in Cicero has not been “firmed up.”
“There is a good chance it will go into the week of Jan. 5‚” he told syracuse.com | The Post-Standard on Christmas Day. “But we don’t have a sense of exactly when it will be completed at this point.”
Construction work is expected to begin “in earnest” next week, Brown said.
A large pile driver is being delivered Friday to the worksite near Northern Boulevard and East Taft Road. Massive amounts of steel sheeting are arriving over the weekend.
A multi-person crew will start using the pile driver on Monday to force the steel sheets 40 feet into the ground to block off the area around the broken pipe.
Once a 150-foot trench is walled off, a series of pumps will remove excess water. Then, the new pipe can be laid. Water can begin flowing after it is flushed and inspected.
Brown said he was unsure what hours the crews would work at the site.
OCWA is trying to get the construction work done faster than usual. Brown has said he’s trying to shrink a job that could normally take a month into two weeks.
The concrete pipe typically moves millions of gallons of water each day to 27,000 customer accounts in the towns of DeWitt, Manlius, Pompey, Sullivan, Lenox and Lincoln. This is the first major problem for the pipe since it was built in the 1960s.
County officials have issued a mandatory conservation notice, directing residents and businesses to reduce non-essential water usage.
Brown said those conservation efforts, plus extra water flowing from Otisco Lake and the cities of Syracuse and Oneida, are working. Water consumption by customers is now equal to the amount of water being pumped into large reservoirs in Manlius.
Those reservoirs, which are typically filled with 50 million gallons of water, have been holding steady for the past three days at about 18% of capacity.
“We have definitely seen a reduction in demand,” he said. “At this stage, it’s critical to continue that effort to stabilize the system.”
Brown said crews also recently adjusted an emergency pump to provide better water pressure to sections of DeWitt.
The areas most vulnerable to losing water are the southern part of the village of Manlius, the northern portion of the town of Pompey and parts of the village of Fayetteville.
Repairs not being completed by the first full week of January could have an effect on local schools.
Thousands of students are set to return Jan. 5 to schools in the water conservation area.
Brown said the county emergency management department has been in touch with school officials. OCWA would also reach out soon, he said.
Brown also provided additional information about earlier efforts to restore water service.
He said crews first noticed sometime last week that there was a leak in the massive pipe, known as the Eastern Branch Pipeline. Crews dug down and were able to fix that leak.
It turned out that there was a second leak in the area. It’s not unusual for two leaks to initially appear as one in the same, he said.
This leak would prove to be much more difficult to fix.
Brown said crews first tried to place metal sheeting around the pipe. Then, they tried to encase the pipe in concrete.
It was determined Saturday that the temporary repairs were unsuccessful and that the pipe needed to be replaced, Brown said.
The agency announced the issue that day and asked customers to use less water.
How is this water shortage affecting you? Have you been notified to close your business or send workers home? How is your water pressure? Please share your experiences with us at [email protected].
