Syracuse, NY – The Onondaga County Water Authority is battling leaks at the site of a ruptured transmission line in Cicero that is returning to at least seven months.
Over the summer, the agency repaired a leak in a so-called “blow-off valve” that was designed to relieve air pressure in the main eastern transmission line. The line supplies water to 27,000 customers in eastern Onondaga and western Madison counties.
Then, just before Thanksgiving, OCWA discovered a problem with the main transmission line itself. Since then, the agency has struggled to fix a series of increasingly serious leaks.
These fixes failed. On December 20, the agency shut off the water supply. That began a scramble to bring emergency supplies online and reduce water use in the six affected towns east of Syracuse.
OCWA’s director says he doesn’t think the two leaks — the one this summer and the one discovered in November — are unrelated.
“It’s been a good three months since this other leak was identified,” Jeff Brown, executive director of OCWA, told syracuse.com | Today’s Post-Standard. “There’s no reason to believe they were connected. Based on the erosion we saw when we discovered that common leak, it indicates years of challenging soil and groundwater conditions.”
But in court documents filed in June, OCWA Chief Operating Officer Geoffrey Miller said an earlier leak in the valve could have dire consequences for the main transmission line.
“The transmission line is one of OCWA’s critical facilities,” he wrote in a June 30 affidavit. “My concern is that if the (valve) leak is not fixed quickly and continues to worsen, or worse, if it fails catastrophically, it could significantly damage the main transmission system.”
Slowdown in June
Problems began at the site, on Wheatley Road in Cicero, earlier this year when OCWA identified a leak in an underground valve. It appeared to be a minor leak, Brown said, and not a top priority.
OCWA said in court documents that it attempted to repair the leak on June 4 with the landowners’ permission. But the tenant, Brian Hafner, refused the work crews. So the agency brought Hafner and his company, BH Enterprises, out of CNY Corp. to court a month later and asked a judge to order him to move the facility and let OCWA do its job.
Hafner’s lawyer, Robert George, said today that Hafner never refused OCWA’s approach. George said the case was resolved in mid-July.
OCWA completed the valve repair in mid-August.
November discovery
Three months later, however, Miller’s fears were realized: The main transmission line began leaking 30 feet downstream of the repaired valve just before Thanksgiving.
Brown said it’s possible the underlying cause of the leaks in both the discharge valve and the transmission line was the same: years of stress on the pipeline from high water tables and shifting soil.
Brown said the first main leak was detected on Nov. 21. OCWA workers repaired the leak on Dec. 6 by welding the pipe, he said.
Two days later, however, OCWA found two more leaks downstream from the first. The two spills required more extensive work than the first: Crews poured 10-foot-long concrete rings around the cracks, hoping it would last until spring, when a permanent repair was planned.
Their hopes were dashed on Dec. 20 when OCWA began pumping water back into the pipeline.
“There was a significant drop in pressures in the system, which indicated that (the repairs) weren’t working, that there was a more catastrophic event,” Brown said.
Before the second set of temporary repairs began in December, OCWA filled the 50-million-gallon reservoir consisting of two storage tanks in Manlius. This water supplied the residents while the works were being carried out.
The tanks are now a lifeline for water users after OCWA realized the repairs would not hold and the line had to be shut down. This 50 million gallon supply steadily declined to about 12 million and then 10 million gallons.
On Monday, OCWA increased public requirements for residents and businesses to dramatically reduce water use. It worked, the agency said. Daily water use dropped from a typical seasonal total of 5 million gallons per day to about 3.5 million gallons.
That 3.5 million gallon threshold was critical because it matched the amount of water OCWA was able to pave each day using a network of emergency pumps and diversion from other water systems.
So far, it’s working, Brown said. Daily water use has dropped to 3.5 million gallons and the reservoir is 20% full, as it has been for several days.
“Basically it’s holding steady,” he said.
Staff writer Jon Moss contributed to this story.
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