The City of Syracuse is working to fix a water supply shortage – as water usage in the city has spiked and remained at an unusual level.
The City of Syracuse is using 5 million gallons of water more per day than normal consumption levels. It's estimated since January, there’s been up to 200 million gallons of treated water lost.
Water Commissioner Robert Brandt said there’s been an unprecedented number of water main breaks this year.
“Last year at this time I believe we had 66 water main breaks," Brandt said. "This year we had 119 water main breaks.”
Brandt said this winter has also caused challenges affecting water main breaks, noting that the Park Street incident was a 16-inch water main freeze, something he’s never seen in his years on the job.
Councilors are questioning what will be done to address future problems with the water.
“Is it possible that these 119 rare breaks are caused by 8,000 ft level, but climate change issues where we have experienced much warmer temperatures and then the back and forth between cold and warm than any other time before," Councilor Patrona Jones Rowser said. "And how are we looking to address that in the future?”
Brandt said they’re working to be proactive about the situation. The department of water has brought in its seasonal leak detection group early and there are plans to hire a drone company to investigate potential problems in more remote areas. They also agreed to a request by Councilor Pat Hogan to reach out to an outside engineering firm.
“I think this is a situation where it's all hands on deck," Hogan said. "Maybe we should bring the contractor in. Just to get new eyes on what's happening out there.”
Water officials say a problem at the Woodland Reservoir has also been addressed where a high-flow pump had inadvertently been left on.
