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Onondaga County Executive Opens New Deep Water Fishing Pier at Onondaga Lake

Onondaga County Executive Opens New Deep Water Fishing Pier at Onondaga Lake

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Onondaga Lake Conservation Corps

To learn more about the Onondaga Lake Conservation Corps or participate in future activities, please contact Chris Lajewski at montezuma@audubon.org or call 315-365-3588.

Honeywell Installs Steel Panels Along Lake Shore for Groundwater Treatment System

Honeywell is driving steel panels into the ground on the southwestern shore of Onondaga Lake along Interstate 690. The work is the first step in the installation of piping that will cross under the highway to connect to a groundwater treatment system under construction on Willis Avenue. Motorists will see the panel installation over the next one to two weeks as they drive along the highway.

Approximately 50 interlocking panels, each 2 feet wide, 40 feet long and weighing more than 1,800 pounds, will create a metal enclosure, which will act as the primary entry point for the piping that will cross under the highway. The panels will prevent lake water from entering the enclosure during pipe construction.

The groundwater treatment facility is one element of the groundwater collection and treatment system to prevent contaminated groundwater from reaching the lake. When complete, the system will draw collected groundwater from the lake’s edge and send it more than 500 feet under I-690 and State Fair Boulevard.

Since April, Honeywell, under New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) supervision, has been constructing the $20 million groundwater collection and treatment system. The system consists of a groundwater treatment plant, two storage tanks, a groundwater pumping station, and a one and one-half mile long underground barrier wall to block groundwater from reaching the lake. The paneling work is not connected to construction of the barrier wall which is currently being designed.

This summer, Honeywell completed construction of a prefabricated 17,500 square foot building specifically designed to house the groundwater treatment system. The groundwater treatment facility will be completed in the spring of 2006.