Representatives of communities that use water from Owasco Lake will approach the Cayuga County Legislature for money to support a water inspector.

"I think everyone reached the consensus this needs to happens. The only real question is how, and how it would be funded, and who's going to be the direct supervisor," Aurelius Superintendent Ed Ide said.

Al Kozlowski, president of the Owasco Watershed Lake Association and a long-time Owasco Lake advocate, is happy leaders are interested in the quality of their drinking water.

"Seventeen thousand people are drinking out of that lake and no one is watching," Kozlowski said.

The communities were pretty well represented during a meeting Tuesday, said Eileen O'Connor, director of Environmental Health for Cayuga County.

They met to discuss the necessity of hiring a lake steward to track constantly the water's quality. While the group easily agreed on the importance of the position, the bigger question of money still is up in the air, O'Connor said.

Ide said representatives from the Owasco watershed cooperative will approach the Cayuga County Legislature either this month or next to ask to fund the position.

Another idea floating around was to have the individual users to kick in an extra $3 to $4 a year to go towards an inspector's salary. O'Connor previously said a steward position would cost more than $55,000 annually.

"I think any responsible water user would think this is a trivial cost. You're talking about two or three 12-ounce bottles of water per year to get 40,000 gallons... of quality drinking water," Ide said.

The Aurelius superintendent was disappointed a water steward hasn't already been in place, which may have prevented the many problems the lake has faced. Owasco Lake has been plagued by rising phosphorous levels that have promoted an overabundance of plant life, made it less conducive to fish and compromised water taste in the minds of some users.

"This probably should have happened years ago to avoid where it is today," Ide said.

Counting on Owasco Lake

These are the communities who use water from the Owasco Lake. Representatives from these municipalities have made it clear that someone needs to watch the water quality.

Auburn

Aureluis

Springport

Brutus

Fleming

Montezuma

Owasco

Port Byron

Sennett

Throop

Weedsport

Read the full report in Thursday's edition of The Citizen.