Photo courtesy of Matt Champlin
- Skaneateles Lake is 16 miles long and averages about 3/4 miles wide, and is home to 413 billion gallons of pure water!
- The lake sits about 863 feet above sea level.
- Pure water from Skaneateles Lake flows unfiltered to more than 220,000 CNY residents. Skaneateles Lake is the primary source of water for residents in and around the City of Syracuse.
- The watershed is also home to 2,600 residences, of which 1,000 are along the 35 miles of shore line. This also includes 60+ farms with about 2,000 livestock.
- The relationship between the relatively small watershed and the large volume of water in Skaneateles Lake provides a kind of natural protection to the Skaneateles Lake that few other lakes enjoy. The watershed is only 59 square miles, and the lake has a surface area of 13.6 square miles, for a ratio of 4.3 acres of watershed to each acre of lake. This helps to account for the long retention time of about 18 years in Skaneateles Lake.
- Scientifically, Skaneateles Lake is classified as ‘oligotrophic’, or a lake with low productivity due to low levels of nutrients. This helps keep algae and other aquatic vegetation to a minimum. It also helps keeps the water so clear and transparent.
- Skaneateles Lake is governed by three counties, five towns, one village, and one city. The Counties are: Onondaga, Cayuga, and Cortland. The towns are: Skaneateles 57%, Niles 7%, Scott 14%, Spafford 19%, Sempronius 3%. The village is the Village of Skaneateles and the city is the City of Syracuse.
