New York State is divided into 17 major watersheds, or drainage basins  One of the largest in NYS  5,070 square miles of land area entirely within NYS  Contains , Oneida Lake, Onondaga Lake  Encompasses 16 counties  8,896 miles of freshwater rivers and streams  Over 400 lakes and ponds  Empties into

Onondaga Lake Onondaga Lake Onondaga Lake Management Watershed Partnership Conference Partnership

-Army Corps -Army Corps -All inclusive, no -USEPA -USEPA hierarchy -NYSDEC -NYSDEC -NYSOAG -NYSOAG -Onondaga County -Onondaga County -City of Syracuse -City of Syracuse -Working with local, state, regional members

Bloody Brook

140 Lake Concentration

120 Guidance Value (20 µg/L)

100

80 Actiflo® on-line 2005 60

Total Phosphorus (µg/L) Phosphorus Total 40

20

0 90 92 94 96 98 00 02 04 06 08 10 12 Year Figure 5-3 (HI-6). Summer (June-September) average phosphorus concentrations in the upper waters (0-3m) of Onondaga Lake 1990-2013.

Draft data from Onondaga County Ambient Monitoring Program 3.0

2.5

2.0

N (mg/L) N -

1.5 BAF on-line 2004 1.0

0.5

0.0 90 92 94 96 98 00 02 04 06 08 10 12

Year

Figure 5-17 (HI-5). Annual average Ammonia-N concentrations in upper waters (0-3m) in Onondaga Lake, 1990-2013. 100% Minor bloom Major bloom (>30 ppb) 80%

60%

40%

20%

0% 90 92 94 96 98 00 02 04 06 08 10 12

Year

No blooms were observed during summer in 1995, 2008, 2009, 2010 - 2013

Figure 5-6 (HI-7). Summer algal bloom frequency, measured as Chlorophyll-α,in Onondaga Lake, 1990-2013

10

8

6 Dissolved Oxygen (mg/L) Oxygen Dissolved 4 The red line represents the instantaneous water quality standard for dissolved oxygen of 4 parts per million

2

0 90 92 94 96 98 00 02 04 06 08 10 12

Year Figure 5-15 (HI-9). Minimum dissolved oxygen concentration in upper waters (0-4 m) during fall turnover (October) in Onondaga Lake. Fecal Coliform Bacteria, April-October 2013 Percent of months in compliance with 200 cells/100 mL standard

Nearshore water clarity conditions measured as Secchi disk transparency during 2012 (1.2m)

Smallmouth Bass Onondaga Lake, Syracuse, NY 3.0

2.5

2.0

Men Over 15 &g/g ww) Women Under 50 & Children 1.5 Fish Women Over 50 Under 15 1.0 Walleye DON'T EAT DON'T EAT

Mercury ( 0.5

0.0 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 Year LargemouthMethylmercury bass, Smallmouth Concentrations Greater than in Epilimnion15", DON'T EAT;, 1992Less bass- 2009 than 15", up to 1 meal/month DON'T EAT 2.50 1992 1999 2.00 Carp, Channel catfish, White 2006 perch 2007 DON'T EAT DON'T EAT 1.50 2008 2009 Brown bullhead, pumpkin seed Up to 4 meals/month DON'T EAT 1.00

Methylmercury (ng/L) 0.50 All other fish Up to 1 meal/month DON'T EAT

0.00

Questions?

Aimee Clinkhammer NEIWPCC Environmental Analyst; Onondaga Lake Watershed Coordinator 315-426-7507 [email protected] www.olwp.org