Owasco River

Owasco River (also known as Owasco Creek, Owasco Lake Outlet, and Owasco Outlet) is a river in Cayuga County in the state of New York. The river drains Owasco Lake at Auburn and flows in a north-northwest direction before converging with the Seneca River north-northwest of Port Byron. The Owasco River Railway is named after the river.

Owasco River
Location of the mouth within New York Show map of New York Adirondack Park Owasco River (the United States) Show map of the United States
Location
Country	United States
State	New York
Physical characteristics
Source	Owasco Lake
• location	Auburn
• coordinates	42°54′11″N 76°32′34″W
Mouth	Seneca River
• location	North-northwest of Port Byron
• coordinates	43°04′36″N 76°38′54″W
Length	22.5 km (14.0 mi)
Basin size	220 sq mi (570 km2)[1]

The city of Auburn owns and operates a dam on the river, and empties the effluent from its wastewater treatment plant into the river.^[2] The Owasco River was also used as a power source for the Auburn Prison in the early-to-mid nineteenth century, helping fuel the town's developing economy and for-profit prison.^[3]

Hydrology

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) maintains one stream gauge along the Owasco River. It has been operation since October 1998, and is located about 200 feet (61 m) upstream from Genesee Street in Auburn.^[4]

The station had a maximum discharge of 2,730 cubic feet (77 m³) per second and a gauge height of 8.34 feet (2.54 m) on April 4, 2005. It had minimum discharge of 1.6 cubic feet (0.045 m³) per second on March 30-31, 1999, and July 22, 1999.^[4]