To help clean up Lake Onondaga, the county is trying to “Save the Rain.”
“It will improve the water quality by preventing polluted water from getting into Onondaga Lake,” said BJ Adigun, project manager with CH2M Hill construction company. It is working with the county on the program, called “Save the Rain.”
County Executive Joanie Mahoney created the program in 2009. It is aimed at keeping sewer water overflow out of the lake.
“There’s one sewer pipe underground which is intended to collect the sanitary waste,” said Adigun. “When it rains or we get a lot of snow, all that water goes into the sewer system. Eventually there is so much water the pipe overflows and the water goes into Onondaga Lake without ever being treated.”
Onondaga Country is running a very aggressive campaign to collect rain water before it can get it into the sewage overflow, say supporters. The program hopes to collect 250 million gallons of water by 2018. Some projects include using rain water collected at the War Memorial to create the ice rink for the Syracuse Crunch hockey team and restoring a natural wetland in the Harbor Brook neighborhood.
Since 1998, the county has spent over $300 million on projects to improve sewage storage. The “Save the Rain” project is funded through federal and state money. Through the year 2018, the budget is for $70 million for so-called “green” infrastructure to plant trees and other greenry, as well as to collect rain.
By creating a greener city, supporters say, the project will help protect the environment for future generations. Neighborhoods will become more aesthetically pleasing, with trees and rain gardens of deep-rooted plants to soak up the rain run-off.
Said project engineer Adigun: “Areas that were all concrete will be receiving a green facelift.”
(Melanie Kendall is a senior with dual majors in broadcast digital journalism and political science.)
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