Water is a very powerful resource. We need it to survive. It's also a main source for energy and recreation. As Cara Thomas explains, balancing the many demands on resources like the Hinckley Reservoir in Oneida County can be a challenge.
More than 100 years ago Hinckley Reservoir was built within the West Canada Creek to supply water to the Erie Canal.
Since then, it's taken on many additional roles. That includes providing drinking water to 126,000 residents in the city of Utica and Mohawk Valley.
"We actually draw water straight from the reservoir into our pipes and then it flows from there by gravity right into our water treatment plant," said Executive Director of Mohawk Valley Water Authority Patrick Becher.
Within the dam itself, New York Power Authority is also utilizing the water's flow.
"It's not one of our largest power plants but this generating facility is able to generate 9 megawatts of, as I said, clean, low-cost, hydro power," said Mario Roefaro, of the New York Power Authority.
There's also another power plant located downstream.
As you can image, with so many organizations using this resource it's nearly impossible to meet everyone's needs all at once. This past winter, the Canal Corporation had to accommodate the water authority by lessening the flow, in turn hurting other businesses.
"That was lost revenue for them so that's what you saw recently is providing additional water for the downstream hydro electric power producers so that they were made whole," said New York Canal Corporation Deputy Director John Callaghan.
It's not unusual for the water levels to be a bit lower this time of year due to lack of rain during the summer months, but this year after releasing extra water for the energy companies the levels are about 5 feet lower than normal.
"Even today the reservoir is more full than it is empty. We are only 15 feet away from the reservoir spilling over this dam and we're 28 feet away from our minimum reservoir elevation," said Callaghan.
But for people who live nearby and had hoped to use the reservoir for boating and other activities, these low levels are disappointing, especially since they weren't warned ahead of time. But the Canal Corporation said they've learned from this year's issues.
"That's why we're developing a new subscription based notification system so that anybody can go right to our website, sign up for alerts and get notifications when we change the amount of water we release from the reservoir," said Callaghan.
Despite this year's high demand for water, state officials said Hickley Reservoir can and will continue to accommodate everyone's needs for at least 100 more years.