Water conservation measures continue to keep the Onondaga County Water Authority reservoir at the level needed to supply people in six towns in Onondaga and Madison counties.
“There’s no need for emergency water distribution over the weekend,” said Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon.
Instead, McMahon said, the county will consider sending the water it has been collecting to schools when they reopen In January, in order to help ease even more pressure on the reservoir that serves those six towns. He called the water an “insurance policy.”
The effort to repair the broken main along Northern Boulevard in Cicero will begin in earnest next week. Equipment needed for the job has arrived and crews are assembling from around the state and beyond to do the work.
The first task, said OCWA Executive Director Jeff Brown, will be to drive thick sheets of steel into the ground around the repair area to prevent cave-ins after trenches are dug and workers are in them. The 130-foot section of pipe needed to replace the broken line is already in place.
Brown said the authority’s board approved an emergency contract for the work to be done. He said the project will cost $1 million or more but the authority has reserves to be able to pay for the repairs.
