New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) is beginning a pilot study to evaluate using trees to remove contaminants from groundwater at the former TRW site located in the Village of Union Springs. Please visit their page at at http://www.dec.ny.gov/data/der/factsheet/c706019cubegins.pdf for more information regarding this interesting project.
Author: Michele Wunderlich
Update on former Powerex Site
For the next four weeks, you may see activity at the former Powerex site as the pilot remediation project to treat contaminated groundwater is entering another phase. Workers at the facility, which is located just outside of the City of Auburn on West Genesee St, will be continuing the remedial work that was begun in 2018 by injecting treatment chemicals into the groundwater which should help to break down the contaminants that are present. Please see the Auburn Powerex Fact Sheet from the United State Environmental Protection Agency regarding this project.
Owasco Lake Fish Advisory
The New York State Department of Health issues an annual advisory about consuming certain fish caught in specific New York State water bodies, because some fish contain chemicals at levels that could adversely affect health. For the first time, this advisory includes some fish species from Owasco Lake.
Data from walleye and smallmouth bass collected in Owasco Lake by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation showed mercury levels that were higher than those previously found in smaller fish. The fish collected in Owasco Lake tended to include larger, older fish than in other Finger Lakes
Mercury is a naturally occurring element, which can be released into the environment by sources like coal combustion. Elevated levels of mercury in fish have been documented in many New York State waters for many years, including lakes in the Adirondack and Catskill Regions of New York. Fish typically accumulate mercury from the food they eat. Smaller and younger fish within a species and fish lower in the food chain tend to build up fewer contaminants in their bodies, hence have a lower potential amount of mercury.
Based on the information from the Finger Lakes Institute at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, walleyes collected and sampled from Owasco Lake in an earlier study were older than walleyes found in other lakes. Fish that live longer and eat other fish, like bass and walleye, tend to have more mercury than do smaller or younger fish. The Finger Lakes Institute plans on repeating their study in the next 18 months, depending upon funding, to see how the fish mercury levels are changing over time.
It is essential to know that the public drinking water from the City of Auburn and the Town of Owasco, both who draw water from Owasco Lake, is still safe. This drinking water is tested annually for mercury and to date, no mercury has been detected.
For specific recommendations on fish consumption go to www.health.ny.gov/fish/fl.
For information on the chemicals for which the City of Auburn and Town of Owasco test in their drinking water go to
http://www.cayugacounty.us/DocumentCenter/View/1383/Auburn-PDF
http://www.cayugacounty.us/DocumentCenter/View/1410/Owasco-PDF
For more information on the Finger Lakes Mercury Project go to
Sewage Discharges
The Sewage Pollution Right to Know Law, which was passed in 2012 in New York State, gives the public the right to know when untreated or partially treated sewage is discharged from a public sewer system into New York waters, allowing the public to avoid unnecessary exposure to dangerous sewage pollution.
Untreated and partially treated sewage discharges from public sewer systems may happen during a heavy rainstorm or significant snowmelt when storm water runoff enters the sewer system to a point where it overwhelms the capacity of the system and spills into the environment. Other reasons for a discharge include sewer system blockages, structural, mechanical or electrical failures, collapsed or broken sewer pipes, and vandalism. The older a sewer system is, the more likely it is to experience sewage discharges.
New York State requires that a municipality make public notification within four hours of a sewage discharge. Notification happens via local news outlets and the website of the NY Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). In addition, the DEC will produce a statewide Sewage Discharge Report each year that will report annual discharges and remedial responses taken.
People interested in receiving these notifications can sign up with NY-Alert. It is free and you can enroll here: https://alert.ny.gov/enroll. You can choose how to receive the notifications, such as phone, email, text, or fax. You can also choose to receive other alerts related to weather, road closures, public health issues, missing children and other emergencies.
If your home is served by a public sewer system, you can help reduce the likelihood of a sewage overflow, and therefore protect water quality, in the following ways:
1. Conserve water.
Reducing the amount of water used in your home also reduces the volume of water in the public sewer system, thereby decreasing the potential for sewage overflows during storm events. The following steps will help – shut off faucets when not in use, repair leaking faucets or pipes, take shorter showers, install low flow faucets, showerheads and flush toilets, replace older dishwashers and washing machines with newer, water conserving models, and use rainwater to water your gardens by installing rain barrels.
2. Don’t Dump Fats, Oil and Grease Down Drains.
Grease, oils or fatty substances dumped down residential or restaurant kitchen sinks can build-up in sewer pipes. These build-ups can cause overflows or back-ups of sewage into homes. Instead of dumping them down the sink, allow fats, oils and grease to cool and dispose of them in the trash
Congealed fats, oils and grease in a sewer pipe. Image: Town of Tyngsborough, MA
3. What Not to Flush
Diapers, moist wipes, and personal hygiene products that are commonly flushed down the toilet can damage or clog sewer systems and wastewater treatment equipment causing a sewage overflow. Do not flush any of these items, even when they are labeled as flushable. Throw them in the trash.
For more information on the City of Auburn’s “Wipes Clog Pipes” public education campaign, please click here.
Seth Jensen’s presentation “Combined Sewer Overflow Presentation” from the December 2018 WQMA meeting.
Citizens Statewide Lake Assessment Program reports now available
The Citizens Statewide Lake Assessment Program (CSLAP) is a partnership between the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), New York State Federation and Lake Associations (NYSFOLA), and lake residents who help monitor and collect critical lake data. The data collected through the program is used to identify water quality issues, detect seasonal and long term patterns, and inform volunteers and lake residents about water quality conditions in their lake.
Cayuga County provides part of their Finger Lakes Lake Ontario Watershed Protection Alliance (FLLOWPA) funding to assist Lake Como and Duck Lake in their CSLAP programs. The funding for Owasco, Cayuga and Skaneateles Lakes in 2017 was provided by the NYS Environmental Protection Fund-Ocean and Great Lakes Program. The work is conducted by hardworking volunteers who donate their time to and resources to collect the samples.
2017 CSLAP reports for Cayuga County lakes are available on the NYSDEC website at https://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/77882.html. Lakes that have reports available are Cayuga Lake, Duck Lake, Lake Como, Owasco Lake and Skaneateles Lake. The Finger Lakes Water Quality Report is also available on that page.
Invasive Species Field Guide and Fact Sheets now available
The Finger Lakes Institute and Finger Lakes PRISM have now published an invasive species field guide with over 100 pages of resources to help you identify invasive and native species in the region. This guide was created in response to the growing threat of invasive species in the Finger Lakes region, with the intention of helping members of the public identify local flora and fauna and learn to distinguish between invasive species and native species.
This guide is applicable to the counties within the Finger Lakes Partnership for Regional Invasive Species Management (PRISM): Broome, Cayuga, Chemung, Chenango, Cortland, Livingston, Madison, Monroe, Onondaga, Ontario, Schuyler, Seneca, Tompkins, Tioga, Steuben, Wayne, and Yates.
To view the guide and fact sheets, visit http://fingerlakesinvasives.org/finger-lakes-prism-field-guide-and-fact-sheets-are-here/.