Watertown loses 400,000 gallons of treated water daily - WWNY

Watertown loses 400,000 gallons of treated water daily

WATERTOWN, New York (WWNY) - 7 News has learned that reservoir leaks cause the city of Watertown to lose more than 400,000 gallons of treated water each day. And, it’s not a new problem.

Many hear the sound of flowing water when they walk through Watertown’s Thompson Park. But not all of them get close enough to smell it.

“At first you might think it’s some natural stream running up there because it does come off a wet area, but there is a distinct smell of chlorine in it which you wouldn’t find in a natural water body,” said City Manager Ken Mix.

It’s not a stream. It’s a leak emptying out more than 400,000 gallons of treated drinking water from one of the city’s two reservoirs at the park.

“We are paying to treat that water and we don’t want to just dump it on the ground,” said Mix.

But that has been the case perhaps for several years. A few months ago, the city paid divers to find the leak but to no success.

“Fairly soon we’ll have a company that comes in. It’s a national company that specializes in water tanks to take a look at it and evaluate it for us, then tell us what they think is the problem,” said Mix.

Watertown Mayor Jeff Smith says the reservoir was scheduled to be drained and inspected this upcoming Friday, but last week’s water main break threw a wrench in those plans.

“It’s not like we knew about it and were ignoring it, some conspiracy theory. That wasn’t it. This was known and they tried to take action of, again, less expensive measures,” said Smith.

Council Member Cliff Olney says he didn’t realize how big the leak was until just last week.

“500,000 a day? And then you multiply that by 30 days and you have 15 million a month,” he said.

Smith says this proves the city needs to invest in infrastructure rather than a pool or golf course. Olney maintains you can invest in infrastructure and recreation at the same time.

Mix says $500,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funding is reserved to fix the leak. It’s important to note the leak is not related to last week’s water main break.

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