People in six towns in Onondaga and Madison counties began conserving water Monday under a mandatory order from officials of their water system and while usage dropped sharply, it’s not enough yet to prevent the county’s reservoir from running dry and depriving some or all of those homes of running water.
The Onondaga County Water Authority reported Tuesday that usage dropped by nearly a million gallons a day in the area affected by the break of a huge water main, from 5 million gallons a day to about 4 million.
“Conservation is helping, no doubt about it," said OCWA Executive Director Jeff Brown. "Our main storage facility is lowering slower than normal but the bad news is it’s still lowering.”
OCWA estimates that a usage rate of about 3.5 million gallons per day will provide sufficient water while the two week repair of the water main is underway.
The authority isn’t relying on conservation alone. It is working with the water supply systems of Syracuse and Oneida to reroute their water into some of the county’s pipes, reducing the number of homes and businesses threatened with a loss of running water should conservation efforts fail.
Onondaga County’s emergency managers are preparing plans for water distribution should the reservoir run too low. That includes having water tankers on standby for use by fire departments in those towns should a fire occur.
Madison County’s government will distribute water to residents of the three towns affected in that county Wednesday from 9 am to noon at Chittenango Middle School, with the help of the school’s athletes.
“The more people are drinking water from what we can provide, the less they're using,” said Madison County Administrator Mark Scimone.
The land along Northern Boulevard in Cicero where the new pipe will be installed was cleared Tuesday as workers work around the clock to restore water as quickly as possible.
