County of Onondaga
Office of the County Executive
Joanne M. Mahoney
County Executive
Media Release
For Immediate Release: 6.19.2018
Contact: Justin Sayles (315) 435-3516
County Executive Joanie Mahoney Announces the 2018 Rain Barrel Workshop Schedule
Rain Barrel Workshops will be held at Onondaga Lake Park and METRO Treatment Plant
SYRACUSE, NY – County Executive Joanie Mahoney announced today the schedule for the 2018 Rain Barrel Workshop. The Rain Barrel Workshops are part of County Executive Mahoney’s Save the Rain program. Residents of Onondaga County will be able to attend a 30-minute workshop to learn about the Save the Rain program and how residents can help in the clean-up of Onondaga Lake by using a rain barrel.
County Executive Joanie Mahoney said, “We are pleased to announce the popular rain barrel program will be back for Summer 2018. Working together as a community to reduce stormwater runoff through the use of rain barrels has been very successful.”
Rain barrels are an integral part of the Save the Rain program. Each rain barrel reduces the stormwater runoff that otherwise enters the sewer system and each rain barrel can capture 50 gallons of stormwater every time it rains. The cumulative effect of the 2,100 rain barrels distributed since 2010 is significant.
In 2017 Save the Rain projects, including rain barrels, kept an estimated 154 million gallons of stormwater out of the sewer system.
The County’s Save the Rain program has now exceeded the final mandated Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) capture percentage of 95 percent ahead of schedule; capturing 97.6 percent of flows in 2017.
“The more people who use the rain barrels, the closer we come to zero sewer overflows into Onondaga Lake,” said Mahoney.
Classes will be held at the Bay View Shelter in Onondaga Lake Park and the Syracuse Metropolitan WWTP on Hiawatha Boulevard in the City of Syracuse. Attendees of the workshops will receive a rain barrel to take home at no-charge. Registration is not required.
“I heard from many people how much they love to use their rain barrel to water their flowers, lawns, or even wash their cars.” said County Executive Mahoney, “I appreciated their contribution to a greener, more sustainable Onondaga County.”
The full 2018 rain barrel schedule is available at https://savetherain.us/str_project/rain-barrel-program/
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