OCWA–Central New York’s Water Authority–was recently honored to have one of its Engineering Department employees, Cory McCarthy, receive the 2020 Young Professional of the Year Award from the American Water Works Association, New York State Section.   The award recognizes the finest young (ages 21 – 35) water professionals with outstanding and creative approaches in the New York State water community.

Cory has been dedicated to the water industry his entire career to-date and has had significant contributing roles to some of Central New York’s most noteworthy projects. He is currently an Engineer 1 at OCWA and works almost exclusively as a member of the Capital Projects delivery team.

Cory graduated in 2009 from the SUNY College of Technology at Alfred State with a bachelor’s degree in construction management.  He immediately hit the ground running when he joined the City of Syracuse Water Department and got involved in the construction management of the historic Woodland and Westcott Reservoir Rehabilitation Projects.

In 2014, he transitioned over to the Onondaga County Metropolitan Water Board (MWB) and was quickly promoted to Civil Engineer 1. At MWB, he played pivotal roles as project manager for the completion of the 30 MG Terminal Reservoir upgrade project, a $14 million pumping systems improvement project for the Lake Ontario Water Treatment Plant, and a variety of water system maintenance and improvements projects.

In 2017, a historic consolidation of the MWB and OCWA transitioned Cory to his current position at OCWA. His construction management and engineering skills were quickly put to work as part of the capital projects delivery team. Since 2017 he has performed design for several in-house projects including PRV system upgrades, tank painting and maintenance, and various other internal projects. He has performed project management duties on everything from valve vault rehabilitation projects to large chemical storage and feed system designs and upgrades. He is currently heavily engaged in the details and management of $60+ million of upgrades to the Lake Ontario Water supply system.

Cory has also taken a major role in OCWA’s asset management systems and processes. He is the lead in developing our digital condition assessment program leveraging his expertise in the IBM Maximo system to create a working database for long term review and documentation of OCWA’s major facilities (pumping stations, tanks, etc). Cory’s approach to his work is always very practical and detailed. He has a firm grasp of the importance of a good design and how to work with our professional partners to develop projects from concept through operation.

Congratulations to Cory on this important recognition!