Central New York residents and businesses affected by a massive water main outage have done much in the past 24 hours to reduce consumption and stabilize the system, officials said Wednesday.
But people in six towns must keep it flowing while the Onondaga County Water Authority replaces a massive burst pipe from Lake Ontario.
And tomorrow is Christmas. So how much water consumption is too much?
Officials set some basic mandatory restrictions: Limit showers to five minutes. Run the dishwasher with a full load. Do not wash the car.
But it is up to each resident and business owner to decide.
The garbage man decided not to wash the smelly trucks. The surgery brought portable toilets. Cafe Manlius only uses take-out cups.
OCWA Director Jeff Brown of Manlius does laundry at his mother’s home in Camillus.
A total of 27,000 customers need to reduce their water consumption by about 30%. This includes large commercial customers who can make a big dent with a small change. Byrne Dairy, for example, transports water to DeWitt from a hydrant in Syracuse.
Still, about two-thirds of the water system’s demand comes from residential customers, Brown said.
“Residential protection is absolutely critical,” he said.
We asked Brown and Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon for more specific guidance.
Should people move their holiday gatherings to a city that isn’t affected by water shortages?
“I don’t think we’re at a point where we’re saying people should leave Manlius and go celebrate Christmas or Hanukkah or New Year’s,” McMahon said.
He urged people to be careful about using water for laundry and dishwashing, but officials did not set specific limits.
As for household activities, drinking water has the least environmental impact, McMahon said.
What should restaurants do?
Restaurants remain open. They must adhere to the same health and safety standards as always.
Like residents, they could switch to paper plates, McMahon said.
“These are common sense things that I think the public will understand in a week or two,” McMahon said.
Brown suggested that restaurants wait until someone asks for water instead of preparing it immediately.
“That’s a relatively simple thing that could collectively have some impact,” Brown said.
A burst pipe in Cicero shut off water to six towns: DeWitt, Manlius, Pompey, Lenox, Lincoln and Sullivan. Normally, these cities use an average of about 5 million gallons of water per day. To overcome the crisis, officials are asking businesses and residents to reduce consumption to 3.5 million gallons a day.
Officials said Wednesday that the community has reached that goal. However, the repair of the massive water main could take longer than the originally estimated two weeks.
Residents have no information panel where they can get information about the flow of water and the impact it has caused. McMahon and Brown released some of that information during live press conferences each day this week. They don’t plan to hold one on Christmas Day.
Have you heard of a business with a creative way to save water? Email tips to mberidenbach@syracuse.com.
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