Otisco Lake
| Otisco Lake | |
|---|---|
Otisco Lake, looking south.
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| Location |
Onondaga County, New York, United States |
| Group | Finger Lakes |
| Coordinates | 42°51′52″N 76°17′13″W / 42.86444°N 76.28694°WCoordinates: 42°51′52″N 76°17′13″W / 42.86444°N 76.28694°W |
| Type | Ground Moraine |
| Primary outflows | Nine Mile Creek |
| Catchment area | 38.7 sq mi (100 km2) |
| Basin countries | United States |
| Max. length | 5.4 mi (8.7 km) |
| Max. width | 0.75 mi (1.21 km) |
| Surface area | 2,048 acres (8.29 km2) |
| Average depth | 33 ft (10 m) |
| Max. depth | 66 ft (20 m) |
| Water volume | 21,000,000,000 US gallons (7.9×1010 L) |
| Residence time | 1.7 years |
| Shore length1 | 15.5 mi (24.9 km) |
| Surface elevation | 785 ft (239 m) |
| 1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure. | |
Otisco Lake is the easternmost of New York's eleven Finger Lakes. The 2,048-acre (8.29 km2) lake is located in Onondaga County, southwest of the city of Syracuse.
Otisco Lake's name may have been derived from the Iroquois name for the lake's outlet, Nine Mile Creek, Us-te-ke, meaning "bitter-nut-hickory". At least one older map, published in 1825, has the name spelled as "Ostisco". The name may also have been derived from the word ostickney, meaning "waters much dried away", or from the Onondaga word ostick, meaning "the water is low".
Prior to European settlement, the lake was used by the Onondaga people for seasonal fishing and hunting, however no permanent settlements were known to exist. After the Revolutionary War, lands surrounding Otisco Lake were given to soldiers as payment for their service in the war. The first house was erected near the head of Otisco Lake by Oliver Tuttle in 1804, in what is today the Town of Otisco.
In 1869, Otisco Lake was made larger with the construction of a dam near the lake's outlet, which enabled the lake to be used as a reservoir for the Erie Canal. The dam's construction raised lake levels by nine feet (2.7 m), and flooded a road at the southern end of the lake. To re-build the road, a causeway was built out of hemlock logs. The causeway was damaged by storms and allowed to deteriorate before being reconstructed in 1983.
Otisco Lake has been used as a source for public drinking water for residents in the southern and western half of Onondaga County since 1908. In 1909, lake levels were increased by an additional four feet (1.2 m) when the dam was raised to increase the lake's capacity. Today, the lake's use as a public water supply is managed by the Onondaga County Water Authority. In 2011, Otisco Lake provided 17,280,000 US gallons (65,400,000 L) of water per day.
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