NORWICH – City officials recently announced two new U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) flood monitoring stations are now fully operational in Norwich. The gages, along the Chenango River and Canaswacta Creek, provide real-time data and camera images to help track rising water levels for the purpose of improved public safety in case of flooding.

The new equipment connects Norwich to the USGS National Streamgage Network (NSN), offering continuous measurements of the water level and flow. The data collected gets quality assured, peer reviewed by USGS hydrologists, and is published online available for anyone to see.

The City's Coordinator of Disaster Preparedness, Bill Edwards, said, “We want the public to know about these, because these are accessible to anyone. There's cameras on both, so people can actually watch the rivers or the creeks.”

Edwards explained the City previously had three older monitors with unreliable and costly service difficult to maintain.

“The advantage is, these people [USGS] are based out of Cortland which makes it real easy. If something happens, they can be here within 24 to 48 hours,” said Edwards. “Our previous vendor would come out of Washington D.C., and we would sometimes have to wait months. Their quotes were several thousand dollars just to come on site.”

With USGS the City does not have a continued maintenance agreement, rather there is a lump sum and an annual service cost which includes guaranteed response time if repairs are needed, an advantage for public safety.

Mayor Robert Jeffrey confirmed that since partnering with USGS, the gages were installed at no cost, but that total cost of the project was $95,490 which will be paid over the course of five years beginning in September 2027.

“Public safety is critical, especially when a large portion of the city is included in a flood plain,” said Jeffrey who recalled a very bad flood that occurred in 2006.

Edwards and Jeffrey said the data will help the city create future flood mitigation plans, identify trends with the river and creek, and aid in decision making.

Mayor Jeffrey said the city began discussing the project in January, received council approval in July, and saw installation completed by USGS within about a month. “This is a really great advantage, especially since we're going to be heading into the fall,” said Jeffrey recalling a flood occurring on Halloween a few years ago.

The gages measure river depth and trigger alerts to emergency officials when water height reaches risky thresholds. The stations include, the cameras, measuring staff, water level sensor, and gage enclosure.

“When it starts triggering, we get to those alert levels, so we can start monitoring closely with the cameras, watching, and be more prepared if we have to get an evacuation notice or slow the stream down,” Edwards said. “As the river rises we can start letting people know.”

He mentioned he gets a specific alert when the Chenango River hits eight feet, a level that can begin affecting low-lying areas such as the Massie Ford parking lot, according to Edwards.

The cameras capture still images from sunrise to sunset and do not record audio. Edwards emphasized that the devices are not law-enforcement tools. “We monitor the river and the creek only. It has nothing to do with anything else,” said Edwards.

Residents can view the gages and camera feeds through the USGS website. All data is public meaning other municipalities and Chenango County can use it for planning or flood-mitigation studies. You can even set your own personal alerts using USGS WaterAlert application. Edwards and Jeffrey both expressed the gages will help strengthen emergency response coordination across agencies.

“The flood gages here definitely give us a leg up to be able to have a more effective and efficient response time,” Jeffrey said. “If we were ever in a disaster situation, we'd want to make sure everybody was able to get out of there in enough time and make sure they're safe.”

Both officials noted that Norwich's location, surrounded by the Chenango River and Canasawacta Creek with low-lying areas, makes flooding a real, recurring concern. Jeffrey noted that the city has experienced significant floods in past decades, including the one mentioned earlier that was a major event in 2006.

“It's not an if, it's a matter of when,” he said, “We want to make sure that we have the best equipment possible, giving ourselves the best possible response time and getting the best data that we can get in order to make really important decisions about the welfare of our community.”

The city has a Flood Mitigation Commission that produce Flood Hazard Analysis, Flood Maps, and flood studies. Jeffrey said, “One of the recommendations from that was ensuring that the stream gages are operational and reliable. We have that in place now.”

Edwards added that the new system will also help detect ice jams, which can cause rapid water backup in the spring. “Ice jams can be very damaging, and they're very hard to get rid of once they start” he said recalling an instance from years ago where water was backing up so fast the response crew had to run up South Broad Street to get to Hale street. “If it was to happen [now], the water should back up far enough into where the gages are so we have a little bit of warning,” he said.

The city expects to use the new data to support future flood-mitigation planning and potential related funding applications. Edwards said the gages will provide long-term benefits for both Norwich and Chenango County.

“It's got a lot of positive,” said Edwards, “there's actually no negative to this.”

To view the cameras visit:

Canasawacta Creek at NYS Rt 23 / Plymouth Street / City Line:

https://apps.usgs.gov/hivis/camera/NY_Canasawacta_Cr_at_Norwich_Staff

https://apps.usgs.gov/hivis/camera/NY_Canasawacta_Cr_at_Norwich_Downstream


Chenango River at NYS Rt. 23 Rexford / River Street

https://apps.usgs.gov/hivis/camera/NY_Chenango_River_at_Norwich_Downstream

https://apps.usgs.gov/hivis/camera/NY_Chenango_River_at_Norwich_Staff

USGS' National Streamgaging Network works through partnerships with Federal, State, local, and Tribal agencies or organizations, sharing operational costs. The goal of the network is to collect and distribute streamgaging information in an economical way, partnerships enable fixed costs including data storage and delivery to be broadly distributed.

The data collected is used for a diverse variety of needs including the protection of life, property, the environment and our economy, and it can be used by anyone regardless of if they helped fund the station. USGS gives the following specific uses: planning, forecasting, and warning about floods and droughts; managing water rights and transboundary water issues; operating waterways for power production and navigation; monitoring environmental conditions to protect aquatic habitats; describing impacts to streamflow from changing land and water uses; assessing water quality and regulating pollutant discharges; determining if streams are safe for recreational activities; and designing reservoirs, roads, bridges, drinking water and wastewater facilities.