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Watershed Inspection

The lake and watershed are routinely patrolled by two full-time City of Syracuse personnel: a Water Department Sanitarian and a Watershed Inspector. During the busy summer months the City hires additional inspectors to look for violations of the Watershed Rules and Regulations, such as illegal construction projects along the shoreline, failing wastewater treatment systems, and erosion/stormwater violations. The inspectors conduct intensive investigations of lakeshore properties. This includes walking properties, looking under structures, inspecting for sewage system problems, checking erosion control plans on disturbed land, and investigating construction activies of any kind.

If you are planning a project that will disturb more than 5,000 sq ft of soil, download the "Before You Build" brochure (pdf 699 KB) to learn about the mandatory Erosion & Sediment Control Plan needed.

Skaneateles Lake water is also monitored for turbidity on a regular basis. These data are compiled in an annual report. For more information about the quality of the drinking water supply visit the City of Syracuse's Water Quality Report.

Skaneateles Lake is utilized as a public and private drinking water supply. Of the approximately 1,000 lakeshore dwellings, a majority get their drinking water from the lake using private intake pipes. Skaneateles Lake is also a drinking water supply for the City of Syracuse, the Villages of Skaneateles, Elbridge, Jordan and other municipalities in Onondaga County. The City of Syracuse draws water from the lake from two-54 inch diameter intake pipes. The average daily flow is 42 million gallons per day.

Water taken from the lake is not filtered except by coarse screens. Because the water quality is so good, the NYS Department of Health has granted a waiver to both the City of Syracuse and the Village of Skaneateles which allows them to utilize the lake as a drinking water supply and not require that they build a filtration plant. Consequently, the only water treatment necessary is chlorination and fluoridation.

Estimates are that if the Village of Skaneateles and City of Syracuse were to build a filtration plant, the cost to the taxpayers would be between $60-$70 million for the City of Syracuse and $4-$6 million for the Village of Skaneateles.