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Summary The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Long Term Monitoring (LTM) network has supported the collection of stream chemistry data in the Catskills since the 1990s. Trends in stream chemistry have periodically been evaluated in these streams but the most recent assessments only extend through the early 2000s. An updated assessment of stream chemistry trends will help evaluate the effects of recent substantial declines in acid deposition during the last decade. This study will evaluate changes in surface water chemistry from 1991 through 2013 at 5 stations in the Neversink and Rondout watersheds in the Catskill Mountains of New York. The results will be compared to changes in atmospheric deposition...
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DEC collaborators collect fish from a Niagara River tributary using an electrofishing boat The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) and Department of Health (NYSDOH), and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) are gathering data on chemical contaminants in fish from multiple Areas of Concern (AOCs) in New York State and plan to 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). This second project is being implemented in the Niagara River AOC during summer 2018. It will help identify sources areas for contaminants in fish and to determine...
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Problem - The Ithaca Subdistrict Office of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is providing technical assistance to the USGS, Biological Resources Division (BRD), at the Tunison Laboratory of Aquatic Science (TLAS) in an investigation of the availability of fresh ground water. An expansion in the water supply at the laboratory is needed for a proposed spawning facility for salmon strains that are viable for natural fisheries in the Great Lakes region. The hydrogeology of the area is a complex of moraine and outwash deposits west of Cortland, N.Y. Data from existing wells at the laboratory indicate that well screens may readily clog from precipitated minerals. A review of the hydrogeology of the area, including...
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Problem - The New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYCDEP) is constructing or proposing water tunnels under New York City and areas of southeastern New York (Hudson River Basin). These tunnels can intersect faults and fractures that produce large amounts of ground water. For example, one tunnel excavation intersected fractures that produced over 200 gallons per minute of ground-water flow into the tunnel. Consequently, there is a need to determine the potential of intersecting ground-water producing fractures during tunnel excavation. The use of advanced borehole geophysical techniques by the USGS during tunnel excavations in northern Queens County demonstrated that geophysical techniques can...
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The combination of a complex hydrogeologic framework, narrow land masses surrounded by saltwater, and extensive ground-water public-supply pumpage has produced localized areas of elevated chloride concentrations in ground water. This project uses advanced surface and borehole geophysical methods to determine the extent of saltwater intrusion and road-salt plumes at selected sites in eastern Suffolk County, Long Island, NY. Two-dimensional resistivity sections have been integrated with borehole geophysical logs and water-quality data to produce cross-sections of road-salt plumes. Borehole geophysical logs are collected twice a year to determine variations in chloride concentration and thicknesses of intrusive...
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Background Past water-quality issues in the St. Lawrence River at Massena, NY resulted in a determination that selected beneficial uses were impaired in a surrounding Area of Concern (AOC) and on the Canadian side of the international boundary (Cornwall, Ontario). The benthic macroinvertebrate community or “benthos” Beneficial Use Impairment (BUI) was designated degraded because impairment metrics were unavailable or inconclusive. Recent sampling efforts by New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) as part of their Rotating Integrated Basin Studies (RIBS) program indicate that macroinvertebrate communities in some sections of the St. Lawrence River and its tributaries in the Massena AOC are...
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Background : Contaminated bed sediments in much of the Buffalo River AOC (Figure 1A, 1B) were removed (dredged) between 2011 and 2015. Plans to monitor and assess the effectiveness of this management action on 8 of 9 beneficial-use-impairments (BUI), included the benthic macroinvertebrate (benthos) BUI, were revised by the Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper (Riverkeeper, 2014). Funds needed to implement various monitoring efforts proposed in this plan, however, were not available at that time. The USGS-New York Water Science Center (NYWSC) and the NYSDEC propose a collaborative study to evaluate multiple lines of evidence (toxicity of sediments and the condition of benthic macroinvertebrate communities) to determine...
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Problem - Roof collapses in the Retsof salt mine near Geneseo N.Y. in March and April of 1994 propagated upward through overlying bedrock, forming a 600-ft-long rubble zone or chimney that connected the mine to a glacial aquifer system and created sinkholes at land surface. Fresh water from the glacial aquifers flowed downward into the mine until the mine was completely flooded in January 1996. The mine opening is predicted to slowly close over a period of several hundred years, with most of the subsidence occurring before 2070. As the mine opening closes, about 40 percent of the brine will be displaced from the mine and migrate upward through the rubble chimney. Continuing monitoring of chloride concentrations...
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Problem Onondaga Lake has been identified as one of the nation's most contaminated lakes as a result of discharges from industrial, sewage, and stormwater sources, and the lake received priority cleanup status under the National Water Resources Development Act of 1990. Although remediation of polluted surface-water discharges is planned, the migration of poor quality (saline) ground water into the lake also affects the quality of lake water and may impair the remediation plans. Anthropogenic contamination has been identified at several sites near the lakeshore, including the former Allied Signal soda ash production facility and a former petroleum storage facility. Saline discharges from the Allied Signal waste...
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Background Industrial discharges of toxic and bio-accumulating compounds to the Niagara River and its tributaries have occurred over many decades. High concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) have been found in samples of fish tissue from many locations, including three tributaries to the Niagara River: Tonawanda Creek, Two mile Creek, and Rattlesnake Creek (study reaches listed in Table 1). Study site for SPMD sampler in a tributary to the Niagara River High PCB concentrations have also been found in mussel tissues during in situ experiments in the latter two creeks PCBs have been detected in sediments from many locations, but they were generally lower than expected given the elevated PCB concentrations...
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Background The Esopus Creek is located in the Catskill Mountains of New York State and is part of the New York City (NYC) drinking water supply system. The basin was dammed in 1915 to form the Ashokan Reservoir splitting the creek into Upper (upstream of the reservoir) and Lower segments. The drainage area of Upper Esopus Creek, between the source (Winisook Lake) and the Ashokan Reservoir is approximately 192 mi2. The Schoharie Reservoir, located 27 miles north of the Ashokan Reservoir, also supplies water to Upper Esopus Creek (and to the Ashokan Reservoir) via the Shandaken tunnel. Waters from the Schoharie watershed enter Upper Esopus Creek at the Shandaken portal and travel 18 km before entering the Ashokan...
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Background: Harmful algal blooms (HABs) are increasingly a global concern because they pose a threat to human and aquatic ecosystem health and cause economic damages. Cyanobacterial HABs (CyanoHABs) represent a substantial threat to drinking-water supplies, aquatic ecosystem health, and safe recreational uses of freshwater resources in New York. 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. For these reasons, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation...
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Background Past water-quality issues in the St. Lawrence River at Massena, NY resulted in a determination that selected beneficial uses may be impaired in a surrounding Area of Concern (AOC) and on the Canadian side of the international boundary (Cornwall, Ontario). The plankton (phytoplankton zooplankton) Beneficial Use Impairment (BUI) was so designated because impairment metrics were unavailable or inconclusive. Recent investigations, however, suggest that plankton communities are relatively healthy and no longer threaten the local ecosystem. Thus, the BUI for plankton may now be outdated in all, or parts of, the St. Lawrence River in the Massena AOC. The primary goal for the Massena (and Cornwall) Remedial Action...
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The Pepacton watershed is an integral part of New York City's public-water supply system. Most of the watershed is within Delaware County with headwaters of some of its eastern tributary streams originating in Greene and Ulster Counties. Land use varies from dairy farms in the northern portion of the watershed to extensive forested areas in the south with small rural communities interspersed throughout the watershed. Sound management of the water resources in the region necessitates development of hydrologic data networks that will document current water-quality conditions in relation to watershed characteristics such as land use. Ground-water discharge to streams accounts for most of the water reaching the New...
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Problem - Since the 1980s, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has mapped over 30 sand and gravel aquifers in upstate New York at the 1:24,000-scale. These mapped aquifers include both the primary and many of the principal aquifers as designated by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Although the 1:24,000-scale maps are valuable in their present form, their usefulness is limited because the important features on the maps, namely aquifer boundaries and the surficial geology, are not available as digital geographic information system (GIS) datasets. Objectives - To maximize the usefulness of the aquifer maps, GIS datasets of the 1:24,000-scale aquifer maps will be developed. To further increase...
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PROBLEM The unconsolidated aquifer in Enfield Creek Valley (fig. 1) was mapped by Miller (2000) and identified as one of 17 unconsolidated aquifers in Tompkins County that needs to be studied in more detail. Well records in Enfield Creek valley indicate that the northern part of Enfield Creek valley contains sand and gravel deposits which may be under unconfined conditions in some areas, confined in others, or both; and the southern part of the valley contains mostly sand and gravel under unconfined conditions. The valley will probably undergo increased development as the population in Tompkins County increases and spreads out from metropolitan areas. However, there is little geohydrologic data in the valley....
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Problem– Lake Ontario experienced period-of-record (1918-2017) maximum monthly average water levels during May through July 2017. NOAA lake gages recorded instantaneous peaks-of record, 249.2 at Olcott, 249.1 at Rochester, and 249.0 at Oswego and St. Vincent. These high water levels along with wind-generated waves caused flooding of thousands of residences and businesses and the erosion of miles of shoreline along the southern and eastern shorelines of the Lake. During the second week of July 2017, the USGS installed 14 temporary water-level gages and monitored this flooding through the lake’s recession. This network of water-level gages, in combination with the NOAA sites, provides a dense coverage of the lake...
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Background Borehole drilling and well-installation are costly procedures, and securing funding for new well installation for the sake of research is often difficult.The Suffolk County Water Authority (SCWA) maintains a large network of deep wells for public supply that is constantly being upgraded as water demands increase. During the drilling process, contractors record drillers’ logs and collect cores and, subsequently, often perform borehole geophysical logging for determination of aquifer properties. However, although these data may suffice for selecting a screen zone, they are lacking in more detailed hydrologic information necessary for a better understanding of Suffolk County’s hydrologic...
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Background Watersheds of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GRSM) receive high levels of acid deposition resulting from atmospheric emissions of nitrogen and sulfur oxides. Acidic deposition has been shown to reduce acid neutralizing capacity (ANC) and calcium concentrations and increase acidity and aluminum concentrations in soils and surface waters and affect forest health as well as fish and macroinvertebrate assemblages across the GRSM. In fact, 12 streams on the Tennessee-side of the GRSM National Park are listed on the Clean Water Act’s 303d list of impaired surface waters for failing the pH standard (<6.0) as a result of atmospheric deposition of air pollutants (mainly nitrogen and sulfur). In the...
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This project provides weekly wet-only mercury deposition samples at the Mercury Deposition Network (MDN) station in the Biscuit Brook watershed at the Frost Valley YMCA. The station has been in operation since 2004 and is currently funded by New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). This is the only MDN station located in the Catskill Mountains and one of only 3 stations in New York State. The Catskill Mountains supply 85% of New York City’s drinking water through a system of surface water reservoirs. All of these reservoirs have fish consumption advisories because of the high level of mercury (Hg) in fish in the reservoirs and atmospheric Hg deposition is the main source of Hg to the...
map background search result map search result map The Onondaga Valley Ground-Water Study, central New York Development of GIS datasets for selected aquifers in New York Estimating chronic toxicity of waters from the St. Lawrence River at Massena Area-of-Concern using two plankton species Sediment toxicity and status of benthic invertebrate communities in the St. Lawrence River and its tributaries within the Massena Area-of-Concern Development and Implementation of a Baseflow (groundwater) Monitoring Network for the Pepacton Watershed Delineation of Rock Fractures, Faults, and Groundwater Flow in the Vicinity of Proposed Water Tunnels, New York City and Southeastern New York Aquifer Appraisal at the Tunison Laboratory of Aquatic Science, Cortland, New York Simulation of migration of brine and saline water from the flooded Retsof salt mine in the Genesee Valley, New York Delineation of the Freshwater-Saltwater Interface at Selected Public-Supply Wells Using Advanced Surface and Borehole Geophysical Techniques, in Eastern Suffolk County, New York Documenting Hydrogeologic Information Obtained from Deep-Borehole Drilling in Suffolk County, New York Changes in Soil and Stream Water Chemistry in Response to Reduction in Acid Deposition in the Catskills Mercury Deposition in the Biscuit Brook Watershed Quantitative Assessment of Water Quality in Upper Esopus Creek: Fish, Macroinvertebrates, Periphyton, Turbidity, and Nutrients Effects of acid-base chemistry on biology of streams in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park Geohydrology of the Unconsolidated Aquifer in Enfield Creek Valley, Town of Enfield, Tompkins County, New York Sediment toxicity and status of benthic macroinvertebrate communities in the remediated Buffalo River Area-of-Concern Lake Ontario Flood Monitoring and Mapping Harmful Algal Bloom monitoring in the Finger Lakes region, New York Contaminants in fish tissues from AOCs in New York State: The Niagara River AOC Track down survey of PCBs in three tributaries to the Niagara River Area of Concern (AOC) Aquifer Appraisal at the Tunison Laboratory of Aquatic Science, Cortland, New York Mercury Deposition in the Biscuit Brook Watershed Sediment toxicity and status of benthic macroinvertebrate communities in the remediated Buffalo River Area-of-Concern Geohydrology of the Unconsolidated Aquifer in Enfield Creek Valley, Town of Enfield, Tompkins County, New York Estimating chronic toxicity of waters from the St. Lawrence River at Massena Area-of-Concern using two plankton species Sediment toxicity and status of benthic invertebrate communities in the St. Lawrence River and its tributaries within the Massena Area-of-Concern Harmful Algal Bloom monitoring in the Finger Lakes region, New York Quantitative Assessment of Water Quality in Upper Esopus Creek: Fish, Macroinvertebrates, Periphyton, Turbidity, and Nutrients The Onondaga Valley Ground-Water Study, central New York Simulation of migration of brine and saline water from the flooded Retsof salt mine in the Genesee Valley, New York Contaminants in fish tissues from AOCs in New York State: The Niagara River AOC Track down survey of PCBs in three tributaries to the Niagara River Area of Concern (AOC) Development and Implementation of a Baseflow (groundwater) Monitoring Network for the Pepacton Watershed Effects of acid-base chemistry on biology of streams in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park Delineation of the Freshwater-Saltwater Interface at Selected Public-Supply Wells Using Advanced Surface and Borehole Geophysical Techniques, in Eastern Suffolk County, New York Documenting Hydrogeologic Information Obtained from Deep-Borehole Drilling in Suffolk County, New York Changes in Soil and Stream Water Chemistry in Response to Reduction in Acid Deposition in the Catskills Lake Ontario Flood Monitoring and Mapping Delineation of Rock Fractures, Faults, and Groundwater Flow in the Vicinity of Proposed Water Tunnels, New York City and Southeastern New York Development of GIS datasets for selected aquifers in New York