Seneca Lake Watershed Management Plan

Transcription

1 Seneca Lake Watershed Management Plan March 5, 2012 Watershed Characterization Public Hearing

2 Sponsors This project is being prepared for the New York State Department of State with funds provided under Title 11 of the Environmental Protection Fund.

3 Sponsors City of Geneva, NY EPF Project Sponsor

4 Drawing from a Broad Coalition Seneca Lake Area Partners In Five Counties SLAP-5 Soil and Water Conservation Districts in Five Counties Schuyler County Watershed Protection Agency LOCAL CITIZENS & Other Stakeholders Various other federal, state and local agencies Cities, Towns, and Villages,,,

5 Watershed All the land that drains into a common point (water body: stream or lake) Marshak, 2012, Earth

6 Seneca Lake Watershed

7 Watershed Management Planning Stages Existing State Desired State Strategies and Actions Balancing Act Conflicting Uses Restoration and Protection Land use and Land Value Tools in the Toolbox Prioritize Issues and Target Funding Coordination and Cooperation

8 Watershed Management Planning Four Legs of the Stool Oversight and Involvement Education and Outreach Public Participation Fact Finding

9 Selection of Planning Activities to Date Seneca Lake Area Partners in Five Counties (SLAP-5) Seneca Lake Watershed Study 1999 Publication: Setting a Course for Seneca Lake: The State of the Seneca Lake Watershed Since then: Wide variety of additional local planning, DEC work, water quality sampling & monitoring, and other activities by local governments, SWCDs and academia

10 Watershed Management Plan Components Characterization and Sub-watershed Prioritization 2012 Public Comments March 23 Assessment of Local Laws, Programs and Practices Affecting Water Quality Identification of Management Strategies Implementation Strategy Intermunicipal Coordinating Organization Watershed Management Plan

11 Seneca Watershed html Characterization: The Setting USGS Fact Sheet FS Seneca Lake Largest of 11 Finger Lakes 57 km long (36 miles) 3 km wide (2 miles) 175 km 2 SA (67 miles 2 ) 198 m deep km 3 Volume (4.1 x gal) 18 years Residence Time Feeds into the Oswego River Basin. Ultimately drains northward into Lake Ontario.

12 Lake Level Control Two Dams on Outlet Competing Interests Water Supply 100,000 people Upstream Levels Shore wells Boating access Winter protection Flooding Downstream Flows Min Flow Dilute Effluents Max Flow Prevent Flooding Hydroelectricity USGS Fact Sheet FS

13 Municipal Involvement Five Counties Chemung Ontario Schuyler Seneca Yates Forty-One Municipalities

14 January February March April May June July August September October November December Precipitation (inches) January February March April May June July August September October November December Tempertaure (*F) Mean Monthly Max & Min Temperatures by Decade Climate Max Max Max Max Min Min Min Min Mean Monthly Precipitation by Decade Cornell Agricultural Research Station Data, Geneva, NY Cornell Agricultural Research Station Data, Geneva,

15 Surface Bedrock Devonian Limestones Tully & Onondaga Shales (Marcellus) Siltstones Sandstones Underlying Silurian Evaporites Gypsum (CaSO 4 ) Halite (NaCl) Glacial Tills Soils

16 Soils Groups A. Soils with low runoff potential. B. Soils having moderate infiltration rates C. Soils having slow infiltration rates D. Soils with high runoff potential.

17 Aquifers

18 Topography and Steep Slopes

19 C. Geneva ~13,300, -21% T. Geneva ~3,300, 18% Population Benton ~2,800, 31% Milo ~7,900, 15% V Penn Yan ~5,200, 0% Starkey ~3,600, 28% Fayette ~3,900, 31% Ovid ~2,300, -25% Romulus ~4,300, 1% Hector ~4,900, 35% Dix ~3,800, -8% (87,000) Population Growth (1970 to 2010, 1.4%) & Population Density Veteran ~3,300, -6%

20 Parcel Classification Agriculture - 42% Residential - 27% Vacant Land - 14% Commercial - 1% Recreational - 1% Community Service - 5% Industrial - 1% Public Services - 1% Wild, Forested, Conservation - 6% Unclassified - 1%

21 Land Cover Classification Water 13% Developed, Open 4.9% Developed, Low Impact 1.3% Developed, Med. Impact 1% Developed, High Impact 0.1% Barren Land <0.1% Forests 26.5% Scrub/Grasslands 7.1% Hay, Crops 42.5% Wetlands 4.3%

22 Gas Wells & Mines

23 Local Pollution Sources 1999 State of the Lake Report Agriculture Chemical Bulk Storage Forestry & Forestry Practices Landfills, Dumps & Hazardous Waste Sites Mined Lands Petroleum Bulk Storage Roadbank Erosion Salt Storage & Deicing Materials Shore Residences Environmental Health SPDES Permits Spills Streambank Erosion Not duplicated in the 2012 Characterization

24 Survey 4 Lake Sites & Buoy Weekly CTD Profiles Secchi Depths Water Samples Chlorophyll Nutrients (NO 3, TP, SRP) Turbidity, Major Ions Occasionally 9 Sites 5-6 Stream Sites Weekly Discharge Water Samples Nutrients (NO 3, TP, SRP) Turbidity, Major Ions Occasionally 20 Sites Limnology & Stream Hydrogeochemistry

25 Temperature Specific Conductance, Salinity Dissolved Oxygen PAR, Available Light Photosynthesis Fluorescence, Algal Concentrations Turbidity Lake CTD Data John Halfman, HWS

26 Seasonal & Shorter Changes: Seneca Lake Buoy Data John Halfman, HWS

27 Buoy Data Lakes Change Response to Weather

28 Seneca Lake Sodium (ppm) Seneca Lake Salinity John Halfman, HWS Sodium Finger Lakes Canandaigua Cayuga Conesus Hemlock Honeoye Keuka Otisco Owasco Skeneateles Seneca 0 Cathy Caiazza (WS 05) Finger Lakes

29 Extra Source: Sodium Ions: Mass balance data Mike Wing & John Halfman, HWS Rain ~0 ppm Dilutes Ions in Lake Evaporation ~0 ppm Concentrates Ions Streams 20 ppm 15,000 mt/yr Road Salt Seneca Lake 80 ppm (~1.2 million tons) Outlet 80 ppm 60,000 mt/yr Industry? Groundwater / Rock Salt Bedrock? 40 to 45,000 mt/yr Sodium (~450 railroad cars) plus 60 to 70,000 mt/yr Chloride (~680 railroad cars)

30 Chloride (ppm) Chloride, ppm Century Scale Changes Seneca Lake Jolly Halfman Others Cayuga, Skaneateles & Hemlock 200 Glen Jolly, USGS Year Cayuga 100 Skaneateles 80 Hemlock Glen Jolly, USGS Year

31 Secchi Depth (m) Chlorophyll-a (ug/l) Algae & Water Clarity John Halfman, HWS Secchi Depths Annual Average Chlorophyll-a Annual Average Surface Bottom

32 Zebra / Quagga Mussels Nutrient Loading

33 0 6 Mussel density (#/m^2) Mussel Density (Ind/m 2 ) Water Depth (m) Zebra Mussel Percentage (%) Declining Zebra & Quagga Mussels? Zebra & Quagga Mussels Zebra Quagga Density Density (Individuals/m 2 ) 0 10,000 20,000 30,000 40,000 25,000 20,000 15, Zebras 2011 Quaggas 2007 Zebras 2007 Quaggas 2002 Zebras 2002 Quagga 2001 Zebras 2001 Quaggas , Zebra & Quaggas m 5, Zebras Quaggas % Zerbas Quagga Zebras Unpublished data from Halfman ( 00, 01, 03), Dittman ( 01, 11), Shelley ( 02), Zhu ( 07)

34 Seneca Lake Castle Wilson Kashong Keuka Outlet Plum Pt. Big Stream Catharine Reeder Kendig SRP (ug/l, P) Urban/Agriculture Agriculture Agriculture Wastewater Treatment CAFO/Depot Seneca Streams: Nutrient Loading John Halfman, HWS Dissolved Phosphate Average Annual Concentration , 197, 145, 102, 120, 116,

35 Phosphorus Budget John Halfman, HWS Seneca Surplus 45 mt/yr Sources Streams 40 mtons/yr Atmosphere 1 mtons/yr Municipal WWTF 2.5 mtons/yr Septic Systems 5 mtons/yr Lawn Care? Sinks Outlet 8 mtons/yr Sediment 1.5 mtons/yr

36 6/6 6/16 6/26 7/6 7/16 7/26 8/5 8/15 8/25 9/4 9/14 9/24 10/4 10/14 10/24 TSS (mg/l) Stage (cm) 6/6 6/26 7/16 8/5 8/25 9/14 10/4 10/24 TP (ug/l, P) Stage (cm) Nutrient Delivery Owasco John Halfman, HWS Total Suspended Solids Autosampler (8 hr samples) Total Phosphate (µg/l, TP) Stage (cm) Precipitation (mm) Total Phosphates Autosampler (8 hr samples) Date (2011) Dutch Hollow Autosampler 3 Water Samples/Day Date (2011) TSS (mg/l) Stage (cm) Precipitation (mm) Dutch Hollow Hourly Readings Stage, Cond., Temperature

37 Honoeye Canandiagua Keuka Seneca Cayuga Owasco Skaneateles Mean Water Quality Rank Otisco Water Quality Rank Finger Lakes Water Quality John Halfman, HWS Average Ranking Eutrophic Mesotrophic Oligotrophic Mean Rank vs. Agricultural Land Use Agricultural Land Use (%) Honeoye Excluded Skaneateles Canandiagua Keuka Seneca Owasco Cayuga R 2 = 0.90

38 Top Down Ecological Stress Meghan Brown, HWS Herbaceous Zooplankton Hemimysis anomala bloody red shrimp Cercopagis pengoi Carnivorous Zooplankton Fishhook Water Flea

39 Densities (Ind/m 2 ) Other Benthic Organisms Dawn Dittman, USGS Benthic Organisms Diporeia 2011 Diporeia 2001 Clams 2011 Clams 2001 Midges 2011 Midges 2001 Worms 2011 Worms Water Depth (m) D. Dittman, unpublished Data

40 Bottom Up, Zebra/Quagga Mussel and Top Down Stressors

41 Increased Impairment Stream Macroinvertebrates Susan Cushman, HWS Biotic Index Values < 4.5 No Impact Values > 5.5 Moderate Impact Percent Modal Affinity Water Quality Index Values > 65 No Impact Values 35 to 65 Slight Impact Values < 35 Severe Impact Increased Impairment

42 Preliminary Fish in Streams Susan Cushman, HWS Fish Species Richness Fish Abundance

43 Preliminary Mercury in Fish Lisa Cleckner, HWS Historical Data Older (6yr) L Trout Avg: 400 ng/g Max: 578 ng/g Analyses on Blacknose dace (Lisa Cleckner). Action Level by FDA 1,000 ng/g, EPA screening value 300 ng/g (methyl Hg) No more than one meal of fish from Finger Lakes per week

44 Secchi Depth (m) Chlorophyll-a (ug/l) Historical Data & Box Cores Meghan Brown & Tara Curtin, HWS Historical Limnological Data Historical Secchi & Chlorophyll Data Year Secchi Depth Chlorophyll-a Box Core Record

45 Total Mercury in Box Cores Tara Curtin, HWS Seneca Lake

46 Total Mercury in Box Cores Tara Curtin, HWS

47 Questions, Comments, Input Contact Information Project Website David Zorn Genesee/Finger Lakes Regional Planning Council Chelsea Robertson Southern Tier Central Regional Planning and Development Board John Halfman & Sarah Meyer Finger Lakes Institute, Hobart & William Smith Colleges Project Advisory Committee