1 The Finger Lakes Water Hub Aimee Clinkhammer May 6, 2017 Cayuga Lake Watershed Network Meeting 2 Presentation Outline • History and Establishment • Staff • Goals and Priorities • Ongoing Activities • Approach 3 Why is the Hub Needed? The Finger Lakes • Important natural resources for NYS • Drinking water sources • Recreation and tourism • Fishing • Property values cayugalake.org • Critical resources to protect and rehabilitate 4 History What led to the establishment of the Hub? • Historic and ongoing water quality issues in the Finger Lakes • Erosion • Nutrient and sediment enrichment • Dissolved oxygen issues • Invasive species • Recent/emerging issues • TMDL/9E watershed plans • Harmful algal blooms (HABs) • Algal toxins in Auburn’s water supply in 2016 5 Establishment • Announced by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in October 2016 • Hub consists of three technical staff and a watershed coordinator • Works in DEC Regions 7 & 8 • Part of DEC Great Lakes Program • Working on all 11 Finger Lakes • First staff member hired in January 3, 2017 • Fully staffed May 4, 2017 6 Staff Staff Member Position Experience over 30 years of experience at Research Scientist 3, Scott Cook DEC, thorough knowledge of key Hub Supervisor NYS water quality issues/programs coordination of stakeholder Aimee Clinkhammer Watershed Coordinator groups, project management Lewis McCaffrey, geology, with 25 years of Senior Scientist experience in hydrogeology, PhD water chemistry and health monitoring and assessment of Tony Prestigiacomo Research Scientist II lakes, reservoirs, and streams 7 8 Goals Overarching goal: To safeguard the water quality of the Finger Lakes and their watersheds 9 Priorities • Collaborate with local stakeholders • Develop a strategic work plan • Compile existingUse data research sets findings, available • Fill data gapsexpertise from stakeholders to find • Improve applicability,funding forquality well &-informed, targeted usability of data improvement projects • Understand watershed issues Honeoye Lake facing all 11 Finger Lakes • Create a plan for each of the lakes 10 Priorities • Finger Lakes Action Agenda • Individual lakes and watershed-wide • Prioritize projects for funding 11 Watershed planning • 303d list of impaired waterbodies (can also be used for protection) • Plans document: . Sources and inputs from pollutant . Allowable pollutant level to meet water quality standard . Actions that will improve water quality • Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) • 9 Key Element Plan 12 Ongoing Work • Management Plans • Cayuga Lake TMDL • Owasco Lake 9E Plan • Conesus Lake TMDL • Honeoye Lake TMDL 13 Other Ongoing Activities • Data coordination and validation • Research gaps • Evaluate the use of emerging technology (drones) • Meeting with stakeholders • HABs monitoring and understanding Owasco Lake 14 Citizens Statewide Lake Assessment Program (CSLAP) • State volunteer lake monitoring program • Run jointly with NYS Federation of Lake Associations in collaboration with UFI and SUNY ESF • Initiated 1985 with 25 lakes and 150 volunteers—no lake size limits, public or private lakes included 15 CSLAP Overview • All lakes sampled 8x per year- biweekly from May/June through September/October • Surface samples analyzed for nutrients, algae, color, pH, conductivity, calcium • Open water and shoreline HABs samples • Hypolimnetic samples analyzed for nutrients, iron, manganese, arsenic • Field data includes water clarity measurements, standardized lake perception • Most lakes sampled single site in deepest part of lake-multiple sites established at larger lakes • Limited plant surveys conducted at some lakes 16 CSLAP Outputs • CSLAP reports issued annually for each lake (on DEC and FOLA websites) • Audience = lake associations, lakefront residents, municipalities, agencies, academic researchers • Assessment summaries used for state PWL /305b assessments and for 303d recommendations • Primary data for NYS HABs notification program • Data used for TMDLs and 9E Plans 17 CSLAP on the Finger Lakes • Funded through EBP Ocean and Great Lakes • Two sites/lake • Coordination with ongoing sampling and monitoring • CSLAP Training • Future projects? 18 Approach • Coordinate DEC programs and offices • ‘Leverage’ existing research • Collaborate with stakeholder groups • Seek expertise from the array of experts in the region • Facilitate multi-disciplinary analysis of data and modeling • Current water quality status, Taughannock Falls SP trends, forecasting 19 20 DEC Central Office DEC Region 7 DEC Region 8 Finger Lakes Research Institutions State/Federal Agencies Water Hub Citizen Groups Municipalities Lake Associations Watershed Councils 21 Thank You Aimee Clinkhammer Connect with us: Watershed Coordinator Facebook: www.facebook.com/NYSDEC Twitter: twitter.com/NYSDEC Finger Lakes Water Hub Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/nysdec NYSDEC, Bureau of Water Assessment and Management [email protected] 315-426-7507.