Onandaga County hopes to go from laggard to leader in cleaning up Onandaga Lake. 

Onondaga LakeSince a 1998 court order, the county has spent $346 million on conventional engineering solutions that have reduced untreated sewage running into the lake by 420 million gallons. However, on Tuesday, county officials asked U.S. District Court Judge Frederick Scullin for approval to deploy natural systems instead, to act as sponges and filters for another 250 million gallons, the Post-Standard reported.  

Developed in conjunction with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the proposal calls for a variety of measures, including tree planting, green roofs, rain gardens and trenches, rain barrels and porous pavement.

Jean Smiley, county administrator for physical services, told the newspaper the county and the city of Syracuse would work on "carrots," in the form of financial incentives, and "sticks," in the form of on-site water retention requirements.  

Under the plan, another 150 million gallons of runoff would be handled conventionally by two underground storm water retention tanks.  However, plans for three new sewage treatment plants would be shelved.   Smiley said the new plan would cost less, but how much less is uncertain.  It would be paid for just as conventional projects are, by sewer fees and state and federal aid.