Syracuse officials outline water-department staffing, leak detection and lead-service plan during budget hearing

Syracuse City water officials summarized recent repairs, ongoing capital work and staffing shortages during a budget hearing before the Syracuse City Council, and said a multi-year lead service-line replacement program and increased leak detection work are underway.

Commissioner Brandt, Syracuse City water commissioner, told the council the department repaired 207 water main breaks in the 2024–25 fiscal period (124 of those from January through April), replaced more than 200 service lines, installed about 41 new fire hydrants and distributed over 6,000 pitcher-style Brita filters to residents as a precautionary public-service measure.

The report matters because the city is balancing urgent operational repairs and a large federally- and state-funded lead-service replacement effort while carrying staff vacancies that department leaders say constrain repair capacity. “We weren’t required to give any filters out by the EPA or the Department of Health. We gave them out as being proactive to, you know, ease the concerns of the public,” Commissioner Brandt said at the hearing. “Our drinking water is safe. We have some of the purest water in the country.”

Officials described the department’s principal short-term challenges as recruiting to fill 16 vacancies (mostly water-maintenance roles), aging infrastructure and meeting environmental/regulatory requirements. The department reported 90 employees on roster and said many vacancies are longstanding; Brandt said some positions had been created recently but the majority of the 16 openings pre-dated the current year.

On lead service-line replacement, Brandt said the city previously replaced public-side service lines for 2,900 homes in an earlier round noted in the meeting record as “02/2007,” and the current effort will replace the private-side lines for those same homes so the combined work will make those services lead-free. Brandt said the city’s goal for the current program is to complete 2,900 private-side replacements in the coming fiscal year; that work will be coordinated with roadway reconstruction schedules when possible. The department said the inventory of known lead service lines ranges from about 14,000 to as many as 30,000 when accounting for 16,000 unknowns; GHD was identified as a contractor that will help with the lead-service inventory and investigations.

Council members raised resident complaints about the filter distribution, asking why pitchers were chosen rather than sink-mounted attachments. Brandt explained that under‑sink or faucet-mounted devices generally require a licensed plumber for installation and that the pitcher model was selected because it is usable by all households. He said the pitchers selected met an EPA-approved standard for lead reduction and cost about $30 each in bulk; Onondaga County contributed toward the first round of purchases.

The council and staff discussed stepped-up leak detection work. The department reported contracting with NewAir for drone thermal imaging and said American Leak Detection has been locating smaller leaks on service lines; as a result of recent detection and repairs, the department estimated it was supplying about one million to 1.4 million gallons per day more water to the system than before recent repairs. Staff said they will continue to expand sensor coverage and eye-hydrant installations to detect problems earlier.

On asset management and procurement, the department said it is using City Works as its asset-management system and has entered an agreement to expand vendor support through NV5 via an existing New York State contract (a procurement path sometimes called “piggybacking”). Commissioner Brandt said the NV5 arrangement was entered under the state contract framework and that the city’s water operating accounts are paying for the work; several council members asked for follow-up documentation explaining the procurement and financing path. Brandt said the City Works implementation previously contracted with GHD had ended and that NV5 was chosen to provide more of a software-focused implementation and training.

Finance Commissioner Mike Enser provided municipal debt figures during the discussion: he said the water department’s annual debt service for fiscal year 2026 is roughly $5.2 million (principal just over $4 million and interest about $1.15 million). He said outstanding water-related debt is expected to be just over $36 million at the end of fiscal year 2026 and that historical outstanding water debt is in the roughly $25–$30 million range, depending on the accounting period.

The hearing closed without a recorded vote on policy items. A motion to adjourn was moved at the end of the session; the transcript records the motion being moved but does not record a roll-call vote in the meeting minutes.

Looking ahead, officials said the department plans a job fair later this month (date recorded in the meeting as “the 20 ninth”), aims to recruit and train more water-maintenance workers, bid lead-service replacements in smaller contracts to attract local contractors, and expand leak detection crews as positions are filled. Council members requested follow-up on City Works implementation costs, the NV5 procurement path and a map of recently completed and planned lead-service replacements.