The March 2017 Owasco Lake public forum organized by your Owasco Watershed Lake Association prompted many questions to the panel of government and science experts. Continuing the dialogue, Scott Kishbaugh and Aimee Clinkhammer, both with the state Department of Environmental Conservation, offer their thoughts to several of your inquiries. Kishbaugh is the chief of the Lake Monitoring and Assessment Section of the DEC Bureau of Water Assessment and Management. Clinkhammer recently accepted the appointment as director of the newly established DEC Finger Lakes HUB. The objective of the HUB is to coordinate efforts across the Finger Lakes to reduce cyanobacteria harmful algal blooms and the poisonous toxins such blooms release.
Visit to read more of the March to Lake Day questions and the experts’ responses.
Q: Doesn’t the spike in HABs in 2016 indicate that the levels of nitrogen and phosphorous in the lake caused by wet years in 2014-2015 are sufficient to cause blooms without the additional input from precipitation events in 2016?
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A. DEC scientists cannot yet say with certainty which factors triggered the recent Owasco blooms. Ongoing lake studies will provide more information about these blooms. We expect that nitrogen and phosphorous dynamics associated with runoff and weather are contributing to these blooms, potentially in addition to the natural recycling of nutrients already present in Owasco Lake. Since the lake has experienced blooms in recent years under both wet and dry scenarios, the relationship between weather and bloom formation is not well-established.
John Halfman's annual report on Owasco Lake called 2016 "a year of recovery." While drought …
Q. What are your thoughts on the impacts on the lake’s problems from global warming?
A. Global climate change is likely contributing to the HAB problem in Owasco Lake, as well as in other lakes. Warmer temperatures provide a more favorable environment for cyanobacteria. Reduced ice cover — later ice ins and earlier ice outs — results in longer growing seasons. Increasing intensity of storms and longer dry periods, both characteristic of climate change, can increase nutrient and sediment loading to lakes, which can lead to increased concentrations of algae and cyanobacteria and severity of their respective impacts to the lake. It is expected that each of these problems will worsen, although this effect in any given year may be small relative to other factors.
Q. What is the relationship between the total maximum daily load effort and the EPA nine-element plan?
A. The TMDL and EPA 9E planning processes are similar. Both are efforts to meet water quality standards.ÌýThe critical factor used to decide whether it is more advantageous to complete the TMDL process or develop an EPA 9E plan is an assessment of the predominant pollutant sources — point versus nonpoint. In simple terms, if the pollution sources within the watershed are largely non-point, a 9E plan process is the more expeditious process to achieve water quality standards.ÌýIf watershed pollutant sources include point sources that must be reduced, a TMDL is the more expeditious process.ÌýThere are two point sources (wastewater treatment plants) in the Owasco Lake watershed; all other sources in the watershed are nonpoint sources, such as stormwater runoff.
Q. Based on the amount of data that appears inconclusive as to the high degree of toxins, wouldn’t a TMDL be a more comprehensive mandate to address the lake’s degradation and eutrophication?
A. DEC’s regulatory authority for nonpoint sources is identical for both a TMDL and 9E plan — implementation of nonpoint source management actions/controls is voluntary under both scenarios and enforced through water quality standards compliance.
OWASCO — When Gov. Andrew Cuomo learned of the water quality issues affecting Auburn-area co…
Q. What is the DEC's responsibility to ensure a continued safe supply of drinking water for consumers of Owasco Lake water?
A. The primary responsibility for ensuring the safety of drinking water rests with Cayuga County Health Department, the state Department of Health and the municipalities drawing water from the lake. DEC continues to work collaboratively with these agencies and other partners to improve water quality. Initiatives include:
• Dedicated Finger Lakes HUB staff to coordinate water quality initiatives, such as a proposed Finger Lakes citizen science partnership
• Shoreline HAB surveillance, monitoring and outreach activities through public notification, education and program coordination
• Funding and implementation of watershed management actions
• The governor’s $2 billion initiative for the Clean Water Infrastructure Act for drinking water source water protection.
These and other DEC activities are expected to improve water quality and the delivery of safe drinking water to the consumers of Owasco Lake water.