Ley Creek Sewer System – Syracuse NY

Description

The federal Work Projects Administration (WPA) conducted major work in and around Ley Creek during the 1930s. A 1940 WPA report described its efforts:

“Ley Creek was the largest WPA project in upstate New York. Ley Creek was formerly a sewage filled drainage ditch twisting five and a half miles through the northern section of Syracuse, where some 30,000 persons lived. A constant menace to health and the development of the city, the creek has been enclosed in a monolithic sewer and a sewage treatment plant erected. There are seven lateral sewers totalling three miles in length and forming the basis for a sewer system serving some 30 square miles. System and plant have been studied by engineers from many parts of the United States and Canada. Glenn D. Holmes, Director and Chief Engineer, Onondaga County Sanitary Sewer and Public Works commission, in charge of construction said: “I could have asked for no finer spirit of cooperation than that shown me by the WPA during the period of construction.” System recently dedicated and now in use.”