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Background The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) and Department of Health (NYSDOH), and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) plan to obtain data on chemical contaminants in fish from multiple Areas of Concern (AOCs) in New York State and use this information to evaluate fish consumption advisories, which are a critical component of most removal criteria for “Restriction on Fish and Wildlife Consumption” beneficial use impairments (BUI). The first project will be implemented in the Buffalo River AOC during summer 2017. This project will help determine if current fish consumption advisories each AOC are appropriate, if they can be modified, and if they support or do not support BUI removal...
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Problem Harmful algal blooms (HABs) are increasingly a global concern because HABs pose a threat to human and ecosystem health and cause economic damages. HABs are a concern in waterbodies used for drinking-water supply and recreation in New York State. Toxins produced by some species of cyanobacteria (called cyanotoxins) can cause acute and chronic illnesses in humans. Aquatic ecosystem health also is affected by cyanotoxins, as well as low dissolved oxygen concentrations and changes in aquatic food webs caused by an over-abundance of cyanobacteria. Cyanobacterial HABs are typically considered to be a symptom of eutrophication. However, oligotrophic lakes worldwide, including those in the Adirondack Region of...
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Problem The City of Ithaca, Tompkins County, N.Y., is in the process of developing a flood management plan for the streams that flow through the City. Flooding in the City is an annual problem caused by a variety of distinct and sometimes interconnected reasons. Flooding often is a result of snowmelt and rain during the winter and spring. Slow ice-melt and breakup can lead to ice jams and subsequent flooding. Flash floods are produced by summer thunderstorms. All of these flood types are compounded by two factors: the storm-sewer system in the City and the elevation of Cayuga Lake. The storm sewers drain to the nearby streams at points below the tops of the streambanks. Because the streamward ends of the storm sewers...
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Background / Problem Hurricane Irene Figure 1 shows the declared counties for Hurricane Irene (FEMA) Five to ten inches of rain from Hurricane Irene produced widespread moderate to major flooding throughout eastern New York August 28-30. Highest rainfall totals occurred in the Catskill Mountains of southeastern New York where over 18-inches of rain was reported at Maplecrest, NY. Record water-surface elevations and streamflows were recorded at 60 USGS streamgages and 2 lake/reservoirs. Provisional recurrence intervals of peak flows exceeded the 100-yr flood (1 percent annual chance flood) at 25 USGS streamgages. Provisional recurrence intervals of peak flows exceeded the 500-yr flood (0.2 percent annual chance...
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Problem: The Clean Water Act (PL 92-500) requires that the health of the Nation’s rivers and streams be assessed on a regular basis, and in the Northeast such assessments often use information from aquatic biological communities that live in the stream. Biomonitoring programs implemented by individual states evaluate biological data to assess stream health on the premise that certain sensitive species that are native to the region cannot survive when water quality is poor. The aquatic community data are typically condensed into a set of biological condition metrics that are scaled numerically to convey the relative degree of stream impairment (e.g., excellent, good, fair, poor). However, biological condition...
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The U.S. Geological Survey's Strategy to Evaluate Persistent Contaminant Hazards Resulting from Sea Level Rise and Storm-derived Disturbances SCoRR: Sediment-bound Contaminant Resiliency and Response Strategy Project Page Natural and anthropogenic contaminants, pathogens, and viruses are found in soils and sediments throughout the United States. Enhanced dispersion and concentration of these environmental health (EH) stressors in coastal regions can result from sea level rise and storm-derived disturbances. The combination of existing environmental health stressors and those mobilized by natural or anthropogenic disasters could adversely impact the health and resilience of coastal communities and ecosystems....
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The Great Lakes Restoration initiative (GLRI) template #77 (Beach Recreation Water Quality) in cooperation with 23 local and state agencies expanded the use of predictive modeling at 45 beaches throughout the Great Lakes (fig 1). Local agencies measure fecal-indicator bacteria such as Escherichia coli (E. coli.) along with easily obtained environmental variables used as surrogates to estimate concentrations of fecal-indicator bacteria through a predictive modeling approach. The predictive modeling is being developed by the use of linear regression and/or partial least-squares techniques. The models use software developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency known as “Virtual Beach”. Each beach model is based...
Categories: Data, Project; Types: Downloadable, Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, Shapefile; Tags: Biogeochemical and Hydrologic Assessment, Biogeochemical and Hydrologic Assessment, BiogeochemicalandHydrologicAssessment, Climate Impacts, Climate Impacts, All tags...
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Problem Statement More than nine million people rely on the New York City Water-Supply System for their daily-drinking water needs. Approximately 40 percent of this water comes from the Schoharie and Ashokan Reservoirs (fig. 1). This water is transported from the Catskill Area to New York City through Esopus Creek and a series of man-made tunnels and aqueducts built starting in the early 1900s (fig. 1). The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has been measuring streamflow continuously in the Upper and Lower Esopus Creeks for many decades. Specifically, streamflow has been measured in the Upper Esopus Creek at Coldbrook (station number 01362500) for about 80 years and in the Lower Esopus Creek at Mount Marion (station...
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Problem Perchlorate detected in a shallow supply well within the southern portion of the Locust Valley Water District (LVWD) has prompted interest in determining the possible existence of a deeper confined aquifer (North Shore Aquifer) that may be protected from shallow contamination (fig. 1). Previous USGS studies in this area indicate the northern part of Nassau County has a complex hydrogeologic framework (Stumm and others, 2004). A previously mapped buried glacial valley may extend and be present at this location. If such a buried valley exists, all Cretaceous age deposits (Magothy aquifer, Raritan clay, and Lloyd aquifer) may have been eroded and Pleistocene-aged deposits including the North Shore aquifer...
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Summary The Long-Term Monitoring Network (LTM) is funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to monitor trends in surface water quality by nesting a few intensively-monitored stations within a network of more numerous but less frequently sampled stations. The intensively-monitored stations have provided monthly discharge and water-quality data at 6 locations across the country since 1983. Continuous discharge and storm water quality sampling were added to these stations in the late 1980’s. One of the major objectives of the Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA) was to establish a network of stations for long-term monitoring of surface-water quality and to determine its relation to changes in atmospheric...
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A. BACKGROUND Aquatic macroinvertebrates, such as dragonfly larvae or crayfish have great potential for Mercury (Hg) monitoring, both as indicator organisms (or "sentinels'), and to provide critical information on Hg in lower food webs to assist in interpreting fish Hg levels. Despite these advantages, macroinvertebrates are not widely used in Hg monitoring because of the current need to directly analyze macoinvertebrate tissue for methyl-mercury (MeHg), at much greater expense than analyzing for total Hg (THg) (i.e. as a surrogate for MeHg), as with fish tissue. This is because the ratio of MeHg to THg in macroinvertebrates exhibits large taxonomic, spatial, and temporal variation, and there is no clear...
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Summary The Hydrologic Benchmark Network (HBN) consists of 37 watersheds that provide long-term measurements of streamflow and water quality in areas that are minimally affected by human activities. In 2011 measurements of aquatic biology and soil chemistry were added to the network. All of these data are used to study long-term trends in surface water flow, water chemistry, aquatic biology, and soil chemistry and as a benchmark against which to compare changes in flow and chemistry in developed watersheds. In 1962, Luna B. Leopold, then Chief Hydrologist of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), proposed the establishment of a network of “hydrologic benchmarks” on the nation’s rivers (Leopold, 1962). The main purpose...
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The distribution of mercury (Hg) and sites of greatest Hg methylation are poorly understood in Catskill Mountain watersheds. Although concentrations of Hg in the water column are low, high concentrations of Hg in smallmouth bass and walleye have led to consumption advisories in most large New York City reservoirs in the Catskill Mountains. Mercury in natural waters can exist in many forms, including gaseous elemental mercury (Hg0), dissolved and particulate inorganic forms (Hg(II)), and dissolved and particulate methylmercury (MeHg). Most Hg in living organisms is MeHg, a highly neurotoxic form that bioaccumulates in aquatic food webs. The production of MeHg by methylation of inorganic Hg in the environment...
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Problem - Several supply wells in Oswego County were evaluated by the USGS in 1999 by using stable oxygen and hydrogen isotopes and chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) age dating techniques. For two municipal well sites (the Villages of Sandy Creek and Lacona, and the Village of Pulaski) that tap a shallow, unconfined aquifer (typically 20-50 ft thick) there were significant discrepancies between ground-water recharge ages determined by chemical data and those determined by ground-water-flow models developed by independent studies. The significant discrepancies between the times of travel of ground water as determined by numerical ground-water-flow modeling and geochemical dating techniques in Oswego County need to be understood...
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Background The Shinnecock Nation is located on the south fork of eastern Long Island adjacent to the town of Southampton to the east, and the hamlet of Shinnecock Hills to the west, in Suffolk County, NY. Shinnecock Nation tribal lands encompass approximately 1.2 square miles and are bounded to the east and west by tidal creeks, and to the south by Shinnecock Bay. The Shinnecock Nation has a population of 662 residents who live in 256 housing units (U.S. Census, 2016). The Shinnecock Nation became the 565th federally recognized Tribe by the United States government in October 2010. (Shinnecock Nation, 2014). Shinnecock Nation tribal lands are situated in a coastal environment where bay and wetland health are...
Categories: Data, Project; Types: Downloadable, Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, Shapefile; Tags: Contaminants, Emerging, Contaminants, Emerging, Contaminants, Microbial, Contaminants, Microbial, Contaminants, Natural, All tags...
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Monitoring of lake chemistry in the western Adirondack region has indicated reductions in the acidity of these lakes during the past two decades. However, lakes are not always reliable indicators of streams and soils. Uncertainty remains regarding the recovery potential of surface waters and the effects of acidic deposition on soils. Furthermore, nitrogen, long considered a growth-limiting nutrient for northern temperate forests, is likely to be available in excess of that needed by Adirondack forest ecosystems as a result of acidic deposition. In this region, excess nitrogen in the soil leads to acidification of soils and surface waters. Calcium, important for acid neutralization, is also an important nutrient,...
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Problem Previous hydrologic studies have indicated that there may be sufficient water resources underlying Richmond, New York, and Bronx Counties for use as a supplemental water supply by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYCDEP) in times of a drought or other water shortage. Unfortunately, comprehensive data on the quantity and quality of the Counties' water resources are not available to make an accurate assessment. In order to evaluate the availability and suitability of these resources, representative and timely data on the ground-water and surface-water resources of these three Counties are needed. Objectives The primary objective is to develop, operate, and maintain long-term monitoring...
Categories: Data, Project; Types: Downloadable, Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, Shapefile; Tags: Bronx County, Completed, Cooperative Water Program, GW or SW, GW or SW, All tags...
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Background: The waters of the Mohawk River basin are inhabited by one of the richest fish communities on the East Coast. The American Eel, Anguilla rostrata, is a unique member of this community, exhibiting a catadramous (maturing in fresh water and spawning in salt water) life history. Like many migratory fish, the American Eel has suffered a general decline across the East Coast largely attributed to barriers to migration and habitat degradation and other anthropogenic disturbances to the point that the species has been recommended for listing under the Endangered Species Act twice in the past ten years A recent study by Machut et al. (2007) and the implementation of a NYSDEC-initiated citizen science juvenile...
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Problem Samples were collected from 10 Key Point sites in the New York City Reservoir system as part of the cooperative USGS-New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) statewide pesticide monitoring project ( Phillips and others, 2000). Ten pesticides were detected in the key-point samples collected between January 1999 and September 2000 - the herbicides atrazine, metolachlor, simazine and prometon, the herbicide degradates deethylatrazine, hydroxyatrazine, alachlor ethanesulfonic acid (ESA), metolachlor ESA, and metolachlor oxanilic acid (OA), and the insecticide diazinon. Concentrations for most of these detections were generally low (between 0.001 and 0.05 ug/L), with the exception of...
Categories: Data, Project; Types: Downloadable, Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, Shapefile; Tags: Biogeochemical and Hydrologic Assessment, Biogeochemical and Hydrologic Assessment, BiogeochemicalandHydrologicAssessment, Completed, Contaminants, Emerging, All tags...
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Problem - The Town of Caroline needs geohydrologic data in two major valley-fill aquifers within the town in order for planners to develop a strategy to manage and protect their water resources. Interest in the interaction between ground water and surface water has increased in recent years as a result of widespread concerns related to water supply. The need to better understand how the development of one water resource affects another will increase as development in Tompkins County intensifies. Upper Sixmile Creek/West Branch Owego Creeks valleys and Lower Sixmile Creek/Willseyville Creek valleys in the Town of Caroline were selected to be studied because they are undergoing increasing development; and most people...
map background search result map search result map The Hydrologic Benchmark Network Mercury concentration in water, sediment, and fish in the Neversink watershed, New York Development and Operation of Groundwater, Surface-Water, and Water-Quality Monitoring Networks in Richmond, New York, and Bronx Counties, New York Hydrologic Assessment of the Shallow Groundwater-Flow System Beneath the Shinnecock Nation Tribal Lands, Suffolk County, New York Long-Term Monitoring of Buck Creek Watershed in the Western Adirondack Region of New York Organic Wastewater and Pesticide Monitoring at Key Points in the New York City Reservoir System Developing and Implementing Predictive Models for Estimating Recreational Water Quality at Great Lakes Beaches Sediment-bound Contaminant Resiliency and Response (SCoRR) Strategy Estimated Non-reservoir Streamflows of Esopus Creek at Coldbrook and Mount Marion, New York Floods of 2011 in New York The Effectiveness of Total Mercury as a Surrogate for Methylmercury in Aquatic Invertebrates Effects of flow alteration on ecological health of streams across the Atlantic Highlands Ecoregion Hydrogeology of Two Areas of the Tug Hill Glacial-drift Aquifer, Oswego County, New York Hydrogeology and Water Quality of the North Shore Aquifer in Locust Valley, Town of Oyster Bay, New York Geohydrology of the Upper Sixmile Creek/West Branch Owego Creek Valleys and Lower Sixmile Creek/Willseyville Creek Valleys, Town of Caroline, Tompkins County, New York Flood-Inundation Maps for Four Stream Reaches, Ithaca, Tompkins County, New York Contaminants in fish tissues from AOCs in New York State: The Buffalo River AOC 2-year post remediation Status of American Eel populations in the Mohawk River Basin Cyanobacterial Occurrence and Bloom Development in Oligotrophic Adirondack Lakes Hydrologic Assessment of the Shallow Groundwater-Flow System Beneath the Shinnecock Nation Tribal Lands, Suffolk County, New York Long-Term Monitoring of Buck Creek Watershed in the Western Adirondack Region of New York Flood-Inundation Maps for Four Stream Reaches, Ithaca, Tompkins County, New York Contaminants in fish tissues from AOCs in New York State: The Buffalo River AOC 2-year post remediation Hydrogeology and Water Quality of the North Shore Aquifer in Locust Valley, Town of Oyster Bay, New York Geohydrology of the Upper Sixmile Creek/West Branch Owego Creek Valleys and Lower Sixmile Creek/Willseyville Creek Valleys, Town of Caroline, Tompkins County, New York Mercury concentration in water, sediment, and fish in the Neversink watershed, New York Development and Operation of Groundwater, Surface-Water, and Water-Quality Monitoring Networks in Richmond, New York, and Bronx Counties, New York Estimated Non-reservoir Streamflows of Esopus Creek at Coldbrook and Mount Marion, New York Hydrogeology of Two Areas of the Tug Hill Glacial-drift Aquifer, Oswego County, New York Status of American Eel populations in the Mohawk River Basin Cyanobacterial Occurrence and Bloom Development in Oligotrophic Adirondack Lakes Organic Wastewater and Pesticide Monitoring at Key Points in the New York City Reservoir System Floods of 2011 in New York Effects of flow alteration on ecological health of streams across the Atlantic Highlands Ecoregion Sediment-bound Contaminant Resiliency and Response (SCoRR) Strategy Developing and Implementing Predictive Models for Estimating Recreational Water Quality at Great Lakes Beaches The Effectiveness of Total Mercury as a Surrogate for Methylmercury in Aquatic Invertebrates The Hydrologic Benchmark Network