Seneca Lake Watershed Management Plan March 5, 2012 Watershed - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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

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.”

Sponsors… City of Geneva, NY – EPF Project Sponsor

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,,,

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

Seneca Lake Watershed

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

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

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

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

http://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/ Seneca Watershed 53758.html Characterization: The Setting USGS Fact Sheet FS 180-99 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 – 15.54 km 3 Volume (4.1 x 10 12 gal) – 18 years Residence Time • Feeds into the Oswego River Basin. • Ultimately drains northward into Lake Ontario.

http://www.canals.ny.gov/faq/oswego/netdata/seneca-levels.pdf 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 180-99

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

Climate Mean Monthly Max & Min Temperatures by Decade 1970-2009 90 80 Max 1970-79 70 Max 1980-89 Tempertaure (*F) 60 Max 1990-99 50 Max 2000-09 40 Min 1970-79 Min 1980-89 30 Min 1990-99 20 Min 2000-09 10 0 Mean Monthly Precipitation June November January March July September October December February April May August by Decade 1970-2009 4.5 Cornell Agricultural Research Station Data, Geneva, NY 4.0 Precipitation (inches) 3.5 3.0 1970-79 2.5 1980-89 2.0 1990-99 2000-09 1.5 1.0 0.5 0.0 November June January March April July September October December February May August Cornell Agricultural Research Station Data, Geneva,

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

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.

Aquifers

Topography and Steep Slopes http://fli.hws.edu/maps.asp

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

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%

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%

Gas Wells & Mines

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

Limnology & Stream Hydrogeochemistry • 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

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

Seasonal & Shorter Changes: Seneca Lake Buoy Data John Halfman, HWS 2007 2009 2008 2010 http://fli-data.hws.edu/clarkpt/

Buoy Data – Lakes Change Response to Weather 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006

Seneca Lake Salinity John Halfman, HWS Sodium Finger Lakes 100 80 Canandaigua Sodium (ppm) Cayuga Conesus 60 Hemlock Honeoye Seneca Lake 40 Keuka Otisco Owasco 20 Skeneateles Seneca 0 Finger Lakes Cathy Caiazza (WS’05)

Extra Source: Sodium Ions: Mass balance data Mike Wing & John Halfman, HWS Rain ~0 ppm Evaporation ~0 ppm Dilutes Ions in Lake Concentrates Ions Outlet 80 ppm Streams 20 ppm Seneca Lake 60,000 mt/yr 15,000 mt/yr Road Salt 80 ppm (~1.2 million tons) 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)

Century Scale Changes Seneca Lake 200 180 160 Chloride, ppm 140 120 Jolly 100 Halfman 80 Others 60 40 20 Cayuga, Skaneateles & Hemlock 0 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 200 180 Year Glen Jolly, USGS 160 Chloride (ppm) 140 120 Cayuga 100 Skaneateles Hemlock 80 60 40 20 0 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 Glen Jolly, USGS Year

Secchi Depth (m) 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1991 1992 1993 1994 Algae & Water Clarity 1995 1996 1997 Annual Average Secchi Depths 1998 1999 2000 2001 John Halfman, HWS 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Chlorophyll-a (ug/L) 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 Annual Average Chlorophyll-a 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Bottom Surface

Zebra / Quagga Mussels Nutrient Loading

Declining Zebra & Zebra Quagga Density Quagga Mussels? Density (Individuals/m 2 ) 0 10,000 20,000 30,000 40,000 0 20 Zebra & Quagga Mussels 40 22870 Water Depth (m) 60 2011 Zebras 25,000 100 100 2011 Quaggas 80 2007 Zebras Zebra Mussel Percentage (%) 90 100 2007 Quaggas 17030 20,000 80 2 ) 16088 2002 Zebras Mussel Density (Ind/m 120 14222 2002 Quagga 140 12937 2001 Zebras 12057 15,000 60 2001 Quaggas 160 8228.3 180 10,000 40 41 6421 Zebra & Quaggas 30 - 130 m 27 5,000 20 4000 1354 878 3500 Mussel density (#/m^2) 0 6 0 0 0 0 3000 2000 2001 2002 2003 2007 2011 2500 Quagga 2000 Zebras Zebras Quaggas % Zerbas 1500 1000 Unpublished data from 500 Halfman (‘00, ‘01, ‘03), Dittman (‘01, ’11), 0 Shelley (‘02), Zhu (‘07) 2001 2011

Seneca Streams: Nutrient Loading John Halfman, HWS CAFO/Depot Dissolved Phosphate Urban/Agriculture Average Annual Concentration Wastewater Agriculture 1999 Treatment 118, 197, 145, 102, 120, 116, 298 2000 100 Agriculture 2001 SRP (ug/L, P) 80 2002 2003 60 2004 40 2005 2006 20 2007 2008 0 Keuka 2009 Seneca Castle Kashong Plum Pt. Catharine Reeder Kendig Wilson Outlet Stream Lake Big 2010 2011

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