The formation of urban water systems has, with few
exceptions, followed a predictable course. At some
point during a settlement's transition from a
crossroads to a proper city, the fear of major fires
or their occurrence spurred local elites to form some
sort of water system. Later, epidemics (particularly
the terrible cholera and typhoid epidemics of the mid-
and late-nineteenth century) prompted concern about
water purity and the necessity of protecting sources
from contamination because of inadequate or
nonexistent sanitary waste disposal systems.
These urban water systems were often originally
private concerns, but they usually reverted to public
ownership when it became clear that private capital
and private priorities were incapable of meeting
public needs. (1)
Suburban and rural water systems, on the other hand,
came later and have had a much less predictable
history. Population density in such areas is by
definition below that which would create major fire
and epidemic risks. Furthermore, the cost of
delivering water to a scattered population would
ordinarily frighten off potential investors and
overwhelm local public resources. So, few such systems
were created until well into the twentieth century,
when the federal government began financing the
extension of urban services to nonurban areas.
The Syracuse Suburban Water System was one of the few
that predated federal involvement in local
development. Moreover, unlike urban water systems, it
was created primarily to meet the requirements of
large-scale industry.
Suburban Syracuse's primary source of water, Otisco
Lake, was first developed by the State of New York
between 1868 and 1873. Joining in the national orgy of
spending following the Civil War, the state
legislature authorized the construction of several
dams to create reservoirs for the Erie Canal in times
of drought. The Hunsiker Brothers of Mottville began
construction of one of these dams at the outlet of
Skaneateles Lake in July of 1868; another dam was
authorized for the outlet of Otisco Lake the same
year. The contract for this 10-ft dam was let on
October 1, 1868 and took 3 years to complete. Seven
hundred acres of land were purchased by the state and
inundated, increasing the surface area of Otisco Lake
to 2200 acres. (2)
While New York State transportation needs governed the
original development of Otisco Lake, the growing pains
of the modern industrial economy affected its
exploitation as a source of potable water. Steady
contraction of the money supply beginning in 1873,
combined with rapid industrial expansion, created a
severe shortage of capital in the late 19th and early
20th centuries.
Public water systems were not in the best position to
compete for scarce investment funds; so the American
Pipe Manufacturing Company, a Philadelphia firm,
formed and partly financed several water companies,
including the Onondaga County Suburban Water Company,
to assure a steady demand for their cast iron pipe.
The papers of incorporation, filed April 11, 1907,
suggest that the American Pipe Company supplied almost
all of the directors, naming H. Bayard Hodge, Ervin
Lyndall, Harry E. Fauser, William Roth, Alexander R.
Colesberry and Alvin T. Lippincott of Pennsylvania,
and only George M. Bailey of Syracuse. (3)
The pipe company also had its engineers draw up the
plans for the construction of the new dam, intake,
reservoir, and transmission line, and supplied the new
water company's chief engineer. (4) The system was
designed to supply several large consumers who were
finding their current supplies inadequate. Closest by,
the Village of Marcellus had already had engineers in
to estimate the cost of building a municipal water
plant.
Their estimate of $40,000 (equal to 10% of the total
assessed valuation of the entire village [equivalent to
$800,000 in 2000]) forced Village officials to look
for others to supply the village. The villages of
Camillus, Solvay, and DeWitt were also looking for a
new water supply. (5)
However, the most important potential customer was the
New York Central and Hudson Railroad. At the time, the
New York Central's repair shops and yards east of the
city were supplied by the City of Syracuse through its
line from Skaneateles Lake, but the City's single
transmission line was incapable of meeting peak
demands. During the summer of 1907 (and not for the
first time) the New York Central had to cut way back
on its water use to keep the City's Woodard reservoir
from being drained. Solvay Process was also looking
for a supplement to its existing supply. (6)
Philadelphia capital was not merely interested in
piping water out of Otisco Lake. The
Herald
reported that the water company was connected with two
companies formed to develop Otisco as a resort area:
the Marcellus and Otisco Lake Railroad planned to
complete a line from the village to the lake by the
end of Spring 1907, and the Otisco Lake Navigation Co.
was formed in early May 1907 to run a steamship line
up and down the lake. (7)
The Onondaga County Suburban Water Company was
originally capitalized at $50,000 [$1 million in
2000], but this was not enough to start construction.
After changing its name to the Syracuse Suburban
Water Company in September of 1907, the company
attempted to increase its capital to $600,000 ($12
million in 2000). However, few of their shares sold at
first. The international financial panic of October of
1907 ushered in a severe economic depression. As a
result, the water company could not raise enough money
to begin construction until 1909. (8)
As soon as financial obstacles were overcome, they
were replaced by political and legal ones. On the
ninth of January 1909 the Syracuse Suburban Water
Company announced that the New York State Water Power
and Supply Commission would hold a hearing on its
request to lay pipe within the City of Syracuse. Less
than a week later the City of Syracuse responded by
filing fifteen objections with the Water Power
Commission.
City officials had realized years before that their
transmission facilities were no longer capable of
meeting the peak demands of both the city and
industrial users. As early as Spring of 1907 the mayor
called for a second line from Skaneateles. By the time
the Syracuse Suburban Water Co. announced its contract
with the New York Central, the City's second
transmission line was near completion. The City had
been relying on the industrial demand that Syracuse
Suburban Water was taking over to justify the new
facilities.
Also objecting at the hearings were people owning land
along the lake because the water company had not
bought up flooding rights yet; the Village of
Marcellus, which was maneuvering for a better price
for water; and the Federal Milling Co., the Paddock
Tube Paper Co., Alfred Hinsdale and Carrie Sims of
Amboy who objected to water being diverted from Nine
Mile Creek. (9) One month after the hearing, the newly
franchised water company was charged with reneging on
their agreement with the state to supply the State
Fair Grounds with free water in exchange for
permission to run lines through the City. They merely
installed the lines, leaving supply and maintenance to
the City. (10)
Attacks on Syracuse Suburban Water continued the next
year when the
Post Standard
charged that it had “undue influence over the Mayor,”
and that that was why the Mayor and the Corporation
Counsel announced that Syracuse had no legal right to
sell water outside the city limits—virtually
delivering Solvay Process and Halcomb Steel to the
Suburban Water Co. as customers.* In practice however,
the City continued to supply the Solvay Process,
Crouse Hinds, Halcomb Steel, and Will and Baumer
plants as well as the suburbs of Everingham and the
Avery tract. The Corporation Counsel decided it was
legal after all because many of the employees at those
plants were city residents. (11)
Syracuse Suburban Water began operations with a new
dam and intake at Otisco Lake, a reservoir in
Fairmount, and a standpipe in Eastwood. The single
transmission line was 20 inches in diameter from the
lake through Fairmount to Solvay Process. From there
to the DeWitt yards they ran a 16-inch main; and from
DeWitt to the Minoa shops and from Fairmount to Amboy
they ran 8-inch lines. Whenever possible the mains
were laid in the New York Central's right of way,
presumably to avoid long and expensive negotiations
with individual property owners and local governments
to obtain their own right of way. (12)
*The 1892 state charter giving permission to draw
water from Skaneateles Lake to the City of Syracuse
was the basis of the Corporation Counsel's claim. The
opening of the new line took place without fanfare.
Local newspapers made no mention of the event, which
probably occurred on the first of July when the Otisco
Lake operator made the first entries into the log
book. The log shows they pumped an average of 3.1
million gallons per day the first month. Demand rose
sharply in November to an average daily demand of 3.8
million gallons in January and February. The following
Spring a water meter was installed to measure
production more accurately. Chlorination equipment was
added on October 6, 1914. (13)
For more than a decade, the system ran uneventfully.
The transmission line was shut down only three times
before 1924, once to clean the Fairmount reservoir
(July 16, 1913) and twice to make connections (June
21, 1913 and June 26, 1913). The first break in the
transmission line, in May of 1924 at Marcellus Falls,
was repaired before customers were inconvenienced. Two
more cracks in the same bridge in February of 1925
caused Syracuse Suburban's only other major
shutdowns. (14)
In December of 1926, the Federal Water Service
bought Syracuse Suburban and changed
its name to the Onondaga Water Service. Shortly
after, the system began expanding and became
once more the center of controversy. In 1927 the
20-inch transmission line between the lake and
Fairmount was augmented by a 24-inch line. The next
year chlorination equipment at Otisco was replaced,
and the Wolf Street booster station and service
building were added. Then anticipating heavy demand
from the New York Central, the Onondaga Water Service
increased capacity by building a new Otisco booster
station in 1929. (15)
Demand for water soon began to justify improvements in
the system:
First,
suburban Syracuse experienced a housing boom in the
late 1920s. Developers either installed or paid the
Onondaga Water Service to install mains and services
in new tracts in Mattydale, Lyncourt, and Fairmount. A
Builder was charged 70 cents/ft for 6- and 8-inch
mains ($6 in 2000), and $10 plus a $2 advance minimum
for 3/4-inch taps in the McCain tract ($86 plus a $17
advance in 2000). (16)
Second,
supply to some older areas was upgraded. Both the
Village of Lyncourt and Town of Salina had 2-, 2½-,
and 3-inch mains replaced by 6- and 8-inch mains when
they formed fire districts and paid for hydrants. (17)
Third,
the Onondaga Water Service added 400 customers when
the Village of North Syracuse gave it a perpetual
franchise in exchange for 6- and 12-inch mains, 90
hydrants, and an elevated tank tank in 1929. For
several years Village officials tried to form their
own water systems, but voters repeatedly turned down
bond issues. (18)
Fourth,
the Onondaga Water Service began selling water
wholesale to new water districts formed in already
settled areas, including the Dooley tract in Fairmount
in 1928, the Fairmount water district in 1929, and the
Camillus and Cityview water districts in 1930. (19)
Finally, the Water Service picked up three new
industrial customers: Fairmount State School (1929),
Syracuse Airport (Amboy, 1929), and Will and Baumer
Candle factory (1930). (20)
A stock market crash in 1929 and the subsequent
collapse of the economy by the end of 1930 sharply
reduced demand for water and stopped expansion, with
one exception—a main extension on Buckley Road in 1939
to serve several truck farmers. The new customers
undertook the trenching and backfilling themselves.
The only major improvement to the system in the decade
was the installation of chlorination equipment at
Fairmount reservoir to eliminate
E. coli
from the lines east of the reservoir. (21)
Conflict between the Onondaga Water Service and
various sections of the public increased in the 1920s
and took off during the Depression. It began with
Marcellus mill owners. When Onondaga Water Service
planned expanding their capacity, they went to the New York
State Water Control Commission to obtain permission to
draw 11 million gal/day from Otisco Lake—an increase
of 6 million gal/day. Marcellus Paper Company,
Onondaga Paper Company and the Crown Mills then asked
for damages equal to the entire value of their mills.
The State then formed a condemnation commission in
1928 to settle on the amount owed by the Water
Service. (22)
Three years later, conflict between Onondaga Water
Service and mill owners began again. Drought in 1930
had reduced the lake level to more than 70 inches
below the dam marker by the end of January, 1931. (The
same time the year before it was only 1 inch below the
marker.) Onondaga Water Service officials tried to
reduce flow to Nine Mile Creek to maintain water
quality. Mill owners went to the State Commissioner of
Waterways to try to force the Onondaga Water Service
to increase the flow to the creek.
Recognizing the impossibility of satisfying both
sides, the State Commissioner of Canals and Waterways,
Ralph O. Hayes, recommended that the state abandon its
interest in the lake and sell its water rights. All
interested parties then objected. Senator Fearon for
the Water Service complained that the Onondaga Water
Service would then have to pay for what the state had
already granted them—the right to draw 11 million
gal/day from the lake. Mill interests saw that with
the withdrawal of state control, the Water Service, as
the sole owner of the dam, would be able to operate
the dam as it saw fit. Finally,the state Attorney
General, John J. Bennett, Jr., ruled that the state
could not pass on ownership of the waters of Otisco
Lake and Nine Mile Creek, only certain riparian
rights. (23)
Though the Attorney General's decision quieted the
mill owners, it left ground open for a major battle
between the water service and Otisco Lake residents.
Less than 2 months later, Senator Fearon, legal
representative of the Water Service, had bought the
mills' water rights and was negotiating with the State
Department of Public Works for the extinction of the
State's remaining ownership and control of Otisco
Lake. As a result, the Canal and Waterways
Commissioner announced that remaining state rights
were to be sold at public auction if no serious
objections were raised at a public hearing. Since the
Attorney General had ruled that the water service had
exclusive rights to the water in the lake and they had
already acquired most of the riparian rights along
Nine Mile Creek, it was unlikely that anyone would bid
against them. (24)
Public response was immediate. Otisco Lake cottage
owners fired off a letter to the editor in opposition
to the sale for publication in the next morning's
Post Standard.
Ten days later, rallying around their State
assemblyman, Horace M. Stone, cottage owners held a
large and well publicized protest meeting at Heath
Grove. Their main objection to the sale was that "the
people who have enjoyed the lake as a playground and
summer resort have certain inalienable rights to
continue enjoying the spot as a natural resource of
the state." They also argued that since the State was
showing an interest in developing public parks, it was
foolish of them to think of selling off what was "a
natural state park that doesn't cost a cent" (though
there was no public access to the lake). Third, they
claimed that the lake might conceivably be needed as a
feeder if a new "All American" canal were to be built
following the route of the old Erie Canal. Fourth,
they thought that the sale would set a precedent that
would endanger every lake in the state. Finally, they
insisted that the state owed the several hundred lake
shore residents more consideration than a private
utility (which served 22,000 homes).
More compelling than their arguments were the powerful
men joining the protesters. Along with Assemblyman
Stone were former Lieutenant Governor Edward
Schoeneck, who owned a cottage on the lake;
supervisors from Camillus, Onondaga, Marcellus,
Otisco, and Spafford; L. Earl Higbee, a prominent
attorney; Melvin L. King, an important local
architect; the
Syracuse Herald,
and the Onondaga County Board of Supervisors. Their
combined weight convinced the governor to overrule the
Department of Public Works and cancel the sale
indefinitely. (25)
Control over the dam brought New York Water Service
under fire a third time. Low water levels in Nine Mile
Creek in early August 1939 forced the Crown Woolen
mill to close and lay off 300 workers. V. S. Kenyon,
secretary of the Crown Mill, blamed the Water Service
for the closing and implied that a minor compromise on
the part of the Water Service would allow them to
reopen. New York Water's local general manager Albert
A. Korves responded by pointing out that the Crown
Mills sold its rights to the Water Service in 1931,
and that since those payments were "ample to enable
them to operate their plants without the use of the
waters in Nine Mile Creek," the water company could
hardly be blamed if mill workers lost their jobs when
the money went to other purposes. Besides, twice as
much water was going into Nine Mile as into the Water
Service's pipeline. (26)
The Onondaga Water Service's reputation with the
public through these episodes was not enhanced by the
nature of its ownership. On December 12, 1926 the New
York Water Service Corporation, which was in turn
controlled by the Federal Water Service Corporation,
bought a controlling interest in Syracuse Suburban
Water Company and changed the name to the Onondaga
Water Service. Then in April 1929, a holding company
called United Power, Gas and Water company or Tri
Utilities obtained control of the Federal Water
Service and People's Light and Power Company, thus
stacking a third holding company over Onondaga Water
Service.
Utility holding companies in general were under attack
at the time and the Federal Water Service was
investigated by the House of Representatives
committee. Tri Utilities collapsed at the end of
August 1931 and went into receivership. Federal Water
Service was separated from the others in February 1932
when Chase National and Central Hanover Banks bought
its voting stock. The banks then auctioned Federal
Water Service stock. In the meantime, New York Water
Service was reorganized. The Onondaga Water Service
was merged into New York Water Service and functioned
from then on as one plant in a centrally managed
company. (27)
Surprisingly, the Syracuse plant of the New York Water
Service escaped public censure for termination of
service for non-payment during the Great Depression.
The only "turn-off" of the decade that received any
notice was the municipal airport in Amboy, and that
was ordered by the Mayor of Syracuse and carried out
by his Parks Commissioner when private companies there
got $800 behind in payments ($9000 in 2000). Under the
original contract between the City and the Water
Service, the City guaranteed a minimum return and was
responsible for unpaid accounts. (28)
Perhaps the Water Service earned some credit with the
public during the great floods of March 1936. Heavy
rains and high winds caused severe flooding in the
Onondaga Valley and along Onondaga Lake. However, the
greatest local danger was to Marcellus and Camillus
when strong south winds and heavy rain threatened to
break up Otisco ice and send it over the spillway.
Residents of the two villages feared the ice would jam
Nine Mile Creek. The Water Service kept gates closed
as much as they dared and lined the top of the dam and
spillway with sandbags, holding back most of the
water—which reached 13 inches above the dam marker—and
all of the ice. (29)
As the Water Service passed through the 1930s, time
began exposing the physical weakness of the system.
Low pressure, leaks, increasing demand, and, in one
neighborhood, worms forced the Water Service to
replace undersized mains. (30) Transmission main breaks
revealed the impossibility of maintaining regular
service with a single transmission line and inadequate
storage.
The first major break occurred on the 16-inch line
feeding Liverpool in June 1930. It took more than two
days to repair and caused the temporary closing of a
major railroad line when the water weakened its bridge
crossing. The second, in August 1931, was on a 24-inch
line. Though it was repaired in less than 12 hours,
hundreds were out of water or had low pressure,
according to the
Herald.
When the line to Liverpool broke again in February
1936, the Mayor of Liverpool ordered the old village
spring system reactivated; otherwise 800 families
would have been out of water during the 24 hours it
took to make repairs. (31)
America's entry into World War II demonstrated that
not only was New York Water incapable of maintaining
service during emergency repairs, they also were not
willing or able to meet heavy industrial demand. When
Onondaga Water Service was absorbed by New York Water,
it became part of a highly centralized organization.
Everything but emergency repairs had to have the prior
approval of the main office, and even emergencies had
to be justified down to the penny.
Inter-company correspondence indicates that either
overall profits were down or that money that should
have been reinvested in replacements and improvements
was siphoned off. When an ailing pump at Otisco was
replaced shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, it
was not junked or left in place as a standby. Instead
it was sent to the Bayshore plant as their "new" pump.
The Otisco Lake dam site was fenced for the first time
because of orders from the War (now “Defense”)
Department. Correspondence dated 1942 over a supply
line to a new industrial park (the Carrier line)
indicates a determination to spend as little as
possible. They argued that because the industrial park
represented wartime demand and not a steady customer
they should rely on the City to make up short-falls on
a regular basis. By 1953, demand on this line was
causing low pressure problems on the eastern end of
the system. (32)
After the war, New York Water's financial condition
appeared to be critical. Construction of a 36-inch
main west of the Fairmount reservoir was halted when
the contractor was not paid by the New York office.
General Auditor, C. B. Myers, sent them a priority
system for submitting vouchers; they were instructed
to put red stickers on the bills that had to be paid
on time! (33)
Nor were they able to oblige water districts literally
begging for their services. In 1940, the West Genesee
Water Service approached them about supplying Westvale
with water, but ended up having to turn to the Village
of Solvay. In 1945, Solvay notified them they could no
longer supply them. Albert Korves of the Syracuse
office of New York Water then began a series of memos
urging New York to authorize taking it over. West
Genesee Water Service served 458 customers directly
and was linked to the Taunton Water District, which
consumed 4½ million gal/yr. Serving them would cost
New York Water a storage tank, a booster station, and
6000 ft of mains to connect them with Otisco water.
This was more than the main office was willing to
spend.
In 1946, New York Water went before the State Water
Power Commission to fight unsuccessfully an order to
supply Westvale on a wholesale basis. Even after they
lost this case they stalled on making adequate
provision for service. In 1950, the New York office
finally authorized replacing the 2-inch line supplying
the district with an 8-inch line—because they were
forced to by complaints to the Health Department and
the State Public Service Commission. (34)
Supply to the housing tracts springing up after the
War was also badly handled. Though use of 2-inch mains
was restricted by the Public Service Commission's
requirement that all homes be within 500 feet of a
hydrant, and though New York Water had problems with
2-inch mains in the 1930s, it began laying 2-inch
galvanized on a regular basis. (35)
The post-War boom put a strain on not just equipment,
but on the supply of water. In 1945, New York Water
got permission to raise the dam and draw up to 16
million gal/day from the lake. This was not enough. In
1948 and again in 1951 and 1952, New York Water began
drilling test wells—first by the dam and later along
Nine Mile Creek. In every case the water proved to be
too hard to be usable. (36)
All of New York Water's shortcomings came to the
surface when they filed for a 15.72% rate increase
with the Public Service Commission in 1950. Eight
communities served by the New York Water Service filed
objections and sent representatives to the hearings
that began in March. The Villages of Solvay,
Liverpool, North Syracuse, and the towns of Geddes,
Salina, Cicero, Clay, and Fire District #2 in the Town
of Salina were mainly concerned because, while New
York Water pumped an average of 10 million gal/day, it
had storage for less than 6 million gallons. In the
event of a break on the single line between Marcellus
and the Fairmount reservoir, all of those communities
would be out of water within 12 hours. Though New York
Water had three connections with the City of Syracuse,
their agreement limited the water company to 1 million
gal/day from that source. (37)
The construction of the New York State Thruway in 1951
made the lack of storage facilities especially
critical. Transmission lines had to be relocated in
several places, leading to heavy dependence on City
connections and low pressure. New York Water dealt
with the relocations and major scheduled repairs by
running notices in the newspapers listing schedules
and areas to be shut off or put on low pressure. (38)
By this time New York Water Service's operation in
Onondaga County was running on borrowed time. Soon
after New York Water lost its rate increase petition
in 1951, the Onondaga County Water Authority was
formed. After ordering a series of studies looking for
a new source of water, the Authority settled on Otisco
Lake and began condemnation proceedings. New York
Water Service's Syracuse plant was formally acquired
by the Authority on December 29, 1955.
1. Carl Bridenbaugh,
Cities in the Wilderness and Cities in Revolt.
M. N. Baker,
The Quest For Pure Water.
NY AWWA, 1949.
Nelson M. Blake,
Water for the Cities: A History of the Urban Water Supply Problem in the United States,
Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1956.
2. Journal, July 11, 1868, p 8.
Herald, March 20, 1931.
Map of Otisco Lake, microfilm roll #1.
Journal, July 25, 1868, p.7.
3. Herald, April 13, 1907, p.6.
4. Microfilm #1; Herald, February 5, 1909, p.6.
5. Herald, April 13, 1907, p.6; Herald, June 18, 1907.
6. Herald, August 19, 1907, p.6. Herald, February 5, 1909 p.6.
7. Herald, May 1, 1907, p.3. Herald May 7, 1907, p.6.
8. Corporate Handbook of the New York Water Service Corporation Syracuse Plant.
9. Herald, January 9, 1909, p.3; January 15, 1909, p.6; February 5, 1909, p.6, May 1, 1907, p.13.
10. Post-Standard April 30, 1910; Herald, March 17, 1909, p.6.
11. Post Standard, April 30, 1910; August 9, 1928.
12. Plans of 1908-1909 revised to show as constructed; Maps of property and flood rights to be acquired, microfilm reels #1 and #2
24. Herald, May 13, 1931, May 14, 1931; Post Standard, July 2, 1931, July 14, 1931.
25. Post Standard, July 3, 1931, July 13, 1931; Journal, July 10, 1931; July 13, 1931; Post Standard, July 14, 1931; Journal, July 14, 1931, July 15, 1931, Post Standard, July 15, 1931;
Post Standard, July 16, 1931; Journal, July 16,1 931 ; Herald, July 17, 1931, Post Standard July 16 1931; July 19, Journal, July 20, 1931; Post Standard, July 14, 1931; Journal, August 14, 931;
Post Standard, August 1, 1931; Journal, August 3, 1931; Post Standard, July 30, 1931 and August 4, 1931; Herald, August 5, 1931 and August 6, 1931.
26 Post Standard, August 3, 1939; Post Standard, August 4, 1939; Korves press release; Herald, August 5, 1939.
27 Corporate Handbook of the New York Water Service; Philadelphia Evening_ Bulletin, April 11, 1931; Journal, Sept. 1, 1931; Wall Street Journal, October 7, 1931; New York
Times, Feb. 28, 1932; Wall Street Journal, Feb. 27, 1932.
28 Journal, April 24, 1931; Post Standard, April 25, 1931.
29 Post Standard, March 23, 1936; Journal, March 23, 1936; Journal March 24, 1936.
30 Post Standard, August 6, 1936; Herald, same date.
3l Herald, June 6, 1930; Post Standard, June 8, 1930; Herald, August 10, 1931; Post Standard, Feb. 6, 1936.
32 ON 606, 608
33 ON 638
34 ON 718, 858.
35 ON 834, 876.
36 ON 647, 672, 874.
37 Post Standard, May 23, 1950, p.6; Post Standard., June 30, 1950, p.6.
