The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently alerted customers of water and other utilities to robocalls being made advising that you’ve paid too much on your bill. To get a cash refund, you simply need to press a number on your phone. You then get to a live person who wants to “verify” your credentials and [...]
OCWA—Central New York’s Water Authority—considers the resiliency of its water system a high priority. As such, we have conducted risk and resiliency assessments of our facilities for nearly 20 years. While OCWA and other public water systems across New York State have been conducting such assessments for years, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) [...]
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 [...]
Major construction activities for the Farview & Richlee Drive project are now complete. Our contractor on the project D.E. Tarolli, Inc. is in the process of paving and will soon begin finishing lawn restoration. There are a few remaining items that will be addressed in the next couple of weeks, such as removing any remaining [...]
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 [...]
OCWA’s water main replacement project along Farview Circle & Richlee Drive has proceeded to the service install phase in construction. The new water main has been installed, pressure tested, disinfected, bacteriological samples taken & passed, and Health Dept. approval received. During this phase, construction activities will once again ramp up in the area. Construction activities [...]
