Little Sodus Bay is a 1.2 square mile bay off of Lake Ontario. Water flows out of the bay into Lake Ontario through a narrow outlet in the northwest corner of the bay. Fair Haven Beach State Park is on the northeast side and West Barrier Bar is on the northwest side.
Little Sodus Bay Physical Features
Elevation: 246 feet
Area: 1.2 square miles
Shoreline Length: 7.4 miles
Length: 2.3 miles
Maximum Width: 0.7 miles
Maximum Depth: 35 feet
Mean Depth: 22 feet
Towns adjacent to the Lake: Town of Sterling
Village adjacent to the Lake: Village of Fair Haven
Little Sodus Bay Watershed Features
Area: 3.3 square miles
Counties: Cayuga and Wayne Counties
Towns within the watershed: Town of Sterling in Cayuga County. Town of Wolcott in Wayne County.
Villages within the watershed: Village of Fair Haven
Little Sodus Bay Watershed Plans and Guiding Documents
Little Sodus Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for Phosphorus
A TMDL which is a type of clean water plan that targets a specific pollutant and sets daily limits for its introduction into the water body of concern has been prepared for Little Sodus Bay and was released in 2007. The main document can be found at here and the appendices can be found at here.
Groups involved with protecting Little Sodus Bay
Little Sodus Bay Betterment Association
Research and Data on Little Sodus Bay
Data and information can be found on the NYSDEC’s Division of Water Monitoring Data Portal. Go to the portal and search for Little Sodus Bay.
DEC Lake Classification and Inventory (LCI) sampling summary- Little Sodus Bay 2016
Little Sodus Bay, Cayuga County, New York
Article from 2010 by Joseph C. Makarewicz and Matthew J. Nowak from the College at Brockport, State University of New York.
Additional Resources
Great Sodus and Little Sodus Bays, New York
Storymap from the United States Army Corps of Engineers