As part of the national Imagine a Day Without Water education and awareness day on October 21, 2020, OCWA—Central New York’s Water Authority—is highlighting some of its ongoing efforts to keep potable water flowing throughout our expansive distribution system. OCWA’s water distribution system is spread over five counties (Onondaga, Oswego, Madison, Oneida and Cayuga) and [...]
Some residential OCWA customers may have recently received, or will be receiving in the near future, higher than normal quarterly water bills. These bills are NOT the result of any change in rates put in place by OCWA during the COVID-19 pandemic, but rather are due to consumption calculated by meter readings. The following are [...]
The New York State Department of Health standard indicates that normal pressure in a water distribution system should be approximately 60 to 80 pounds per square inch (psi) and not less than 35 psi while maintaining a minimum pressure of 20 psi under all conditions of flow. OCWA attempts to operate and maintain its system [...]
Origins (Otisco Lake) The origin of what eventually became the OCWA water distribution system began in 1907 with the installation of transmission mains by the Onondaga Suburban Water Company from Otisco Lake to parts of Marcellus, Camillus, Solvay and DeWitt following the NY Central and Hudson Railroad lines. After the successor company operating the system [...]
As part of OCWA’s monthly series highlighting some of our dedicated employees and the important jobs they perform, this month we’re featuring Mike E. from our Operations Department. Each month we’re asking a different employee a series of ten questions about his/her background, what he/she does at OCWA and some of the employee’s most interesting [...]
The two main processes that OCWA—Central New York’s Water Authority—utilizes to treat the drinking water it delivers to its 500,000 consumers are filtration and disinfection. Today’s article focuses on the filtration process. Customers of OCWA receive water that originates from one of three sources--Otisco Lake, Lake Ontario and/or Skaneateles Lake. OCWA operates two advanced water [...]
The two main processes that OCWA—Central New York’s Water Authority—utilizes to treat the drinking water it delivers to its 500,000 consumers are filtration and disinfection. Today’s article will focus on the disinfection process. Background on Disinfection Disinfection is the process of treating water for public use to remove or inactivate possible harmful organisms. Microbial contaminants [...]
As part of OCWA’s monthly series highlighting some of our dedicated employees and the important jobs they perform, this month we’re featuring Gloria B. from our Information Technology Department. Each month we’re asking a different employee a series of ten questions about his/her background, what he/she does at OCWA and some of the employee’s most [...]
2020 marks the 75th anniversary of water fluoridation. In that time, the addition of small amounts of the mineral fluoride to public water supplies has proven to prevent, and even reverse, tooth decay. Indeed, water fluoridation has been recognized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as one of the 10 greatest public health [...]
OCWA–Central New York’s Water Authority–was recently honored to be awarded the 2020 Safety Award from the New York Section of the American Water Works Association (NYSAWWA) for its comprehensive, inclusive and sustained commitment to safety. The award was presented at NYSAWWA’s virtual awards program held on June 30. One of the key components of OCWA’s [...]
