Syracuse drinks from one of the cleanest lakes in America — unfiltered. But not everyone in CNY is that lucky. We read the water quality reports so you don’t have to.
Every spring, your water utility publishes an annual drinking water quality report. It’s called a Consumer Confidence Report — and almost nobody reads it.
We did. We pulled the 2024 reports for the City of Syracuse, the Onondaga County Water Authority (OCWA), and cross-referenced them with EPA compliance data, emerging contaminant testing, and the state’s new watershed protection plan. Here’s what CNY residents are actually drinking — and what you should know about it.
Syracuse: The Unfiltered Miracle
The City of Syracuse draws its drinking water from Skaneateles Lake — and it does so without filtering it. That’s not a cost-cutting measure. It’s a testament to how clean the source is.
Skaneateles Lake is one of the few large surface water supplies in the entire country approved as an unfiltered drinking water source. The lake serves more than 170,000 people across Syracuse, Skaneateles, Jordan, Elbridge, and DeWitt.
Since 2004, the City has maintained an indefinite filtration avoidance waiver from the New York State Department of Health. The conditions are strict: continuous water quality monitoring, backup disinfection, and an aggressive watershed protection program. Syracuse has met those conditions every year.
The Skaneateles Lake Watershed Agricultural Program (SLWAP) was developed as a cost-effective alternative to building an expensive filtration plant — and it’s worked. No sewage discharges, including from treatment plants, are permitted into surface waters in the Skaneateles Lake watershed. That’s rare anywhere in the country.
What’s in Syracuse’s Water
According to the City’s 2024 Annual Drinking Water Quality Report, Skaneateles Lake water is tested for 24 metals and inorganic chemicals, 54 volatile organic compounds, 40 synthetic organic compounds (pesticides), and 9 disinfection byproducts.
Trihalomethanes and haloacetic acids — byproducts of chlorine disinfection — were detected, but all readings fell well below EPA and NYSDOH regulatory limits.
There was one compliance hiccup in 2024: on January 13, turbidity levels at the intake spiked to 18.96 NTU at 4 a.m. due to high winds on the lake. The maximum allowable standard is 5 NTU. It was a weather event, not a contamination event — but it triggered a treatment technique violation that the City reported as required.
The PFAS Question
Under the EPA’s 2024 National Primary Drinking Water Regulation (NPDWR) — the first-ever enforceable federal limits on PFAS — all public water systems must now test for and report per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.
Syracuse has been testing for PFAS since at least 2022. The 2024 report includes an emerging contaminants table for PFAS and 1,4-Dioxane. According to the Environmental Working Group (EWG) database for Syracuse City, Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) has been detected — though at levels within compliance. The EWG’s health guideline for PFOA is 0.09 parts per trillion, well below the federal legal limit.
Worth noting: Chromium-6, an unregulated toxic metal, has been found in Syracuse tap water at an average of 57 parts per trillion — roughly 3 times the concentration associated with negligible cancer risk, according to EWG analysis. It’s legal because there’s no federal standard for Chromium-6 specifically. But it’s worth knowing.
OCWA: Lake Ontario and Otisco Lake
If you live in suburban Onondaga County, or in parts of Madison, Oneida, Oswego, or Cayuga counties, your water comes from the Onondaga County Water Authority.
OCWA is a major operation. In 2024, it supplied an average of 36.31 million gallons per day to approximately 98,001 residential accounts. That water comes from two primary sources:
- Lake Ontario: 17.98 million gallons/day (49.5% of supply). Customers in northern and eastern Onondaga County, plus Oswego, Madison, Oneida, and Cayuga counties.
- Otisco Lake: 17.14 million gallons/day (47.2% of supply). The easternmost and smallest Finger Lake.
- Skaneateles Lake: Supplements during peak demand.
Unlike Syracuse’s unfiltered supply, OCWA’s Lake Ontario water goes through full treatment at the Ontario Water Treatment Plant. Lake water is pumped through a 7-foot-diameter intake shared with the City of Oswego, treated with carbon dioxide to suppress pH for effective coagulation, and seasonally treated with potassium permanganate for taste, odor control, and pre-oxidation.
OCWA operates three state-certified testing laboratories and conducts over 20,500 tests annually. For the latest EPA-assessed quarter (April–June 2024), OCWA was in full compliance with federal health-based standards.
OCWA Infrastructure Upgrades
OCWA has been investing in its Lake Ontario system with a multi-phase improvement project: water filtration upgrades, major equipment replacement, control system modernization, and building maintenance. A third phase, including replacement of onsite water storage tanks, was expected to begin construction in 2025.
The Town of Clay’s Water
With 1,350 new homes planned and Micron’s workforce arriving, Clay’s water infrastructure is about to face unprecedented demand. Clay receives its water from OCWA’s system, primarily the Lake Ontario supply. The Town’s 2024 Annual Water Quality Report (published May 2025) provides compliance data for the Clay Uniform Water Districts.
As the Micron corridor grows, water capacity and quality monitoring in Clay, Cicero, and surrounding towns will become a critical infrastructure story — one we’ll continue tracking.
The Emerging Threat: Harmful Algal Blooms
The biggest water quality concern in CNY isn’t PFAS or lead — it’s phosphorus.
Skaneateles Lake has experienced increasingly frequent harmful algal blooms (HABs) in recent years, driven by phosphorus-rich sediments on the lakebed. These blooms threaten aquatic life, recreation, and — critically — the safety of the unfiltered water supply that 170,000+ people depend on.
In June 2025, NYS DEC Commissioner Amanda Lefton and Department of State Secretary Walter Mosley announced the joint approval of the Skaneateles Lake Watershed Nine Element (9E) Plan for Phosphorus — a comprehensive strategy to reduce phosphorus loading and protect the lake’s water quality for drinking water, recreation, fishing, and tourism.
Syracuse University researchers have launched a lakebed mapping project using multibeam echo sounder technology to identify areas of fine-grained mud contributing to HABs — the kind of granular science that underpins real solutions.
What You Should Do
- Read your CCR. Your water utility publishes it every spring. Syracuse’s is at syr.gov/Departments/Water. OCWA’s is at ocwa.org/water-quality.
- Check the EWG database. The Environmental Working Group’s Tap Water Database provides independent analysis beyond federal compliance — including health guidelines that are stricter than legal limits.
- Know your source. If you’re on Syracuse city water, you’re drinking from Skaneateles Lake (unfiltered). If you’re on OCWA in the north, you’re on Lake Ontario (filtered). If you’re on a private well, you’re on your own — get it tested.
- Watch for your utility’s PFAS data. 2024 was the first full reporting year under the new EPA PFAS rule. The data is coming in. Pay attention to it.
CNY Signal will publish updated water quality comparisons as 2025 CCR data becomes available this spring. Have a water quality concern? Email [email protected].
