Sewer Lake: Timeline

Onondaga Lake Timeline

1600 to 2015

· 1600 and earlier: Onondaga Lake and its surrounding area: Home to the Haudenosaunee peoples

· 1654: The Onondaga peoples shows the salt springs, located around the southern shores of Onondaga Lake, to the French.

· 17th-18th Century: Europeans settle in the area surrounding Onondaga Lake.

· 1793: Commercial production of salt begins.

· 19th Century: Onondaga Lake was a popular tourist attraction. People visited for the beaches, restaurants, resorts, and amusement parks.

· 1825: Completion of the Erie Canal. Salt was one of the major goods transported along the Erie Canal. Syracuse became known as “The Salt City”.

o Want to visit the Salt Museum? Click here: Salt Museum

· 1881: Solvay Process Company (now Honeywell International Inc.) began the production of soda ash.

· 1882: Onondaga Lake’s water level was lowered, following the dredging of the outlet to Seneca River.

· 1918: Solvay Process Company began producing organic chemicals and chlorine gas.

· 1920: Solvay Process Company merges with five different chemical companies merge to become Allied Chemical and Dye Corporation

· 1940: Swimming is banned in Onondaga Lake

· 1943: Thanksgiving Day, a dike that held up several Solvay Process Company waste beds failed – flooding a 2-mile area. People were displaced form their homes and several suffered chemical burns.

· 1946: Allied Chemical and Dye Corporation begins using mercury cells for production of several chemicals. The result was up to 22 pounds of mercury being released into Onondaga Lake per day.

· 1950: By this time Onondaga Lake had sewage waste, bacterial growth, PCBs, mercury, benzene, cadmium, and toluene contaminating its waters. Learn more about the chemicals: EPA Priority Chemicals

· 1970: Fishing is banned in Onondaga Lake and the US Attorney General sues Allied Chemical Corporation (Name changed in 1958) for dumping of mercury.

· 1972: The Federal Clean Water Act is passed. Learn more: Clean Water Act of 1972

· 1979: Metro sewage facility is built – over next 20 years they contribute to phosphorus and ammonia contamination in the lake.

· 1981: Allied Chemical Corporation changes their name again, to Allied Corporation.

· 1986: Allied Chemical finally ceases to discharge waste into Onondaga Lake

· 1989: NYS seeks legal action to hold Allied Chemical responsible for clean up of Onondaga Lake

· 1992 – 2002: Research is conducted on environmental impacts of the chemicals found in the lake.

· 1994: Onondaga Lake as well as surrounding waste sites become regarded as Superfund sites by the EPA.

· 1998: NYS DEC, the State Attorney General Office, Atlantic States Legal Foundation, and Governor at the time Pataki sign an agreement to require Metro to decrease phosphorus, bacteria, and ammonia in their wastewater destined for Onondaga Lake

· 1999: Allied Chemical Corporation and Honeywell International merge to become Honeywell Inc – deeming Honeywell responsible for the clean up of Onondaga Lake. Learn more about Honeywell: Honeywell

· 2005: NYS DEC and the EPA establish a final clean up plan for about 2 million cubic yards of sediment to be dredged and removed, and a 579-acre cap placed on bottom of the lake.

o NOTE: at this time wastes are still entering the lake from improperly managed waste sites, contaminated ground water, and contaminated tributary sediment.

· 2014: dredging is completed by Honeywell – the projected 2 million cubic yards have been removed from the lake

· 2015: 2 million gallons of water treated by Honeywell, yet many other components of clean up are not completed. Progress up to February 2015 clean up data: February 2015 Clean Up

· Future: By 2016 the lake should have 450 acres capped, improvements should be made to wetlands, and 1.1 million plants should be planted.