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PROBLEM As part of an effort to sustain a viable water-supply system for 8 million residents in New York City, and 1 million other residents in upstate New York that rely on City water, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYCDEP) has requested a multi-disciplinary study by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to determine the source(s) of water to surface-water sites (springs and expressions) in areas adjacent to the Catskill Aqueduct. In the area near the Delaware Aqueduct, which has been determined by the USGS to have a water-tunnel contribution to flooding issues during periods of high precipitation, the NYCDEP plans to repair the leaks with a grouting procedure. However, without monitoring...
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BACKGROUND Watersheds of the Adirondack Mountains 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 (Ca) concentrations, and increase acidity and aluminum (Al) concentrations in soils and surface waters, and affect forest health as well as fish and macroinvertebrate assemblages across the region. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is currently developing secondary standards for nitrogen and sulfur emissions that will indirectly protect terrestrial and aquatic species and their communities from further adverse impacts and promote recovery of acidified ecosystems...
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PROBLEM There are more than 60 organizations and agencies collecting water-quality data on Long Island. The types of database management that are used to store and archive regulatory and non-regulatory data vary from paper forms to spreadsheets to State and Federal databases, and there is minimal communication between these systems. As a result, those interested in analyzing data may be unaware of what data exist and how those data can be obtained without a Freedom of Information Law request. A unified data sharing system that provides multiple levels of sensitive and non-sensitive data storage and dissemination is needed. This system should link the various databases and interact through web services to provide...
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Background: Eighteenmile Creek was designated as an Area of Concern (AOC) in 1985 because water quality and bed sediments were contaminated by past industrial and municipal discharges, waste disposal, and pesticide usage. Five Beneficial Use Impairments (BUIs) were identified in the Eighteenmile Creek AOC, including BUI #3 - the degradation of fish and wildlife populations. The remedial action committee (RAC) for the Eighteenmile Creek AOC has identified the following removal criteria for this BUI: · Fish and wildlife diversity, abundance, and condition are statistically similar to diversity, abundance, and condition of populations at non-AOC control sites; AND · PCB levels in bottom-dwelling fish...
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Introduction As a result of storage and disposal practices at a former Manufactured Gas Plant, or MGP, in Bay Shore, NY, a variety of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) have been detected at high concentrations in the surficial, upper glacial aquifer of Long Island. Levels of PAHs initially detected over 10 years ago were in the parts-per-thousand range within a groundwater contaminant plume. The plume extended over a half-mile from MGP-related sources to discharge at a local estuarine tributary, Lawrence Creek, resulting, resulting in malodorous hydrocarbon sheens in this tributary and nearby storm drains. These signs of contamination revealed a larger underlying problem and prompted calls by state and local...
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Introduction Detailed mapping of the valley-fill aquifer within the Owasco Inlet valley and adjacent tributary valleys in Cayuga County (Towns of Moravia and Locke) and Tompkins County (Town of Groton) is the latest study in the cooperative Detailed Aquifer Mapping Program between the US Geological Survey (USGS) and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC). The aim of the program is to map sand and gravel aquifers in New York State at a scale of 1:24,000. This information is used by NYSDEC Division of Water and others to delineate groundwater contributing areas, assess potential threats to aquifers from both point and non-point sources, respond to contamination from spills or leaks...
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Problem - Acidic precipitation has affected forested and aquatic ecosystems in New York, particularly in the Adirondack and Catskill regions. Acidification of surface waters and deleterious effects on fish and other biota have been well documented in both these regions. Despite reduced levels of acidity in atmospheric deposition over the past 20 years across New York and the northeastern United States, the most acid-sensitive streams and lakes have not yet begun to recover, and many show continued declines in acid-neutralizing capacity, an indicator acid-base status. Many studies have documented the effects of acid precipitation in New York, but thus far, there has been no comprehensive effort to synthesize and...
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Background: Moreau Lake is located within Moreau Lake State Park, a 4,100 acre park divided by the Hudson River in northern Saratoga and southern Warren Counties of upstate New York. Moreau Lake has a surface area of 128 acres, a watershed of 469 acres, and 3.6 miles of shoreline. The lake has a “normal” mean depth of 32 feet and a maximum depth of 50 feet. An outlet control structure at the south end of the lake controls surface water outflow and protects adjacent property within the floodplain of Moreau Lake. The lake is considered a kettle lake and as such is surrounded by ice-contact sand and gravel (NY State Parks, 2006). Moreau Lake is a recreational water body used by the public for swimming, fishing,...
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Background In order to help identify sources of high Enterococci concentrations identified by the Village of East Hampton and the Surfrider Foundation’s water-quality sampling upstream of Hook Pond, surface water and groundwater samples will be collected and analyzed for F+-specific coliphage, bacteroides, Enterococci and fecal coliform, and nitrogen isotopes. Potential sources of pathogens include waterfowl, failing onsite wastewater disposal systems, and stormwater runoff. F+-specific colipahge (Griffin and others, 2000) and bacteroides (Stoeckel, 2005) analyses are sensitive microbial source tracking methods that can discern human, mammal, and bird sources. Nitrogen isotopes are used in conjunction with concentrations...
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Introduction The Village of Malone, Franklin County, New York is located along the Salmon River where it exits the northern foothills of the Adirondack Mountains and flows northward across the St. Lawrence Lowlands until its confluence with the St. Lawrence River. The public water supply of the Village of Malone serves a population of 13,200 (U.S. EPA SDWIS database), which includes three correctional facilities. The source of the water supply is a thick glacial aquifer south of the village in the Adirondack foothills. Surficial mapping and interpretation of deglacial history that includes at least part of the Malone area includes the work of MacClintock and Stewart (1965) and Denny (1974). Deglacial history has...
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Problem - The Onondaga Lake Partnership (OLP) is committed to improving the water quality of Onondaga Lake. Onondaga County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) has promoted best-management practices to decrease loads of nutrients and sediment from agricultural lands. Onondaga County Department of Water Environment Protection has abated many of the outflows from combined sanitary-and-storm sewers in the city of Syracuse and has upgraded treatment capabilities for removal of nutrients in effluent from the county's Metropolitan waste-water-treatment plant. These measures have fallen short of target levels of phosphorus and nitrogen loadings to Onondaga Lake because of inputs from nonpoint sources of pollution....
Categories: Data, Project; Types: Downloadable, Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, Shapefile; Tags: Ambient Monitoring, Ambient Monitoring, Ambient Monitoring, Best-Management Practices, Best-Management Practices, All tags...
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The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is collaborating with the New York Department of State (NYDOS) Office of Planning and Development to prepare a new Long Island South Shore Estuary Reserve (SSER) Coordinated Water Resources Monitoring Strategy (CWRMS). Since 2000, when the last CWRMS was published, numerous research projects and studies are demonstrating several new threats to the ecologic health and resilience of the SSER. Contemporary threats include: Eutrophic conditions brought on by high levels of nutrients from sewage treatment plant discharges, stormwater runoff, groundwater seepage, and atmospheric contributions; Increased occurrences of harmful algal blooms in the past 15 years; and, Growing concern...
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 and Land-Use Change, Climate and Land-Use Change, All tags...
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Problem - The demand for water in New York State is unevenly distributed. Because increasing competition for local supplies could lead to shortages, it is expedient to know how and where water is withdrawn, delivered, and used. There are many dimensions to water-use issues, and all should be considered to develop a full understanding of the use and delivery of water in the State. In order to apply water-use information to problems of water-demand management, many data elements need to be collected and stored in a convenient location and format. The categories of water use most commonly considered include public-water supply, domestic, thermoelectric power generation, industrial, irrigation and, to a lesser degree,...
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Background Acidification of lotic and lentic environments has been found to adversely affect the integrity of resident biological assemblages. These effects have been particularly severe in poorly buffered regions like the Western Adirondacks. Although the Clean Air Act and its amendments have greatly reduced levels of atmospheric deposition, many streams in this region are still chronically or episodically acidified. In-stream and watershed-wide liming are two directed-mitigation techniques which could be used to accelerate ecosystem recovery and help restore the condition of biological assemblages. The costs and abilities (as well as effective duration) of these techniques to improve water and soil chemistry,...
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Problem The Neversink River and Rondout Creek are historic trout fishing and recreational streams in the heart of the Catskill Mountains of southeastern NY. Waters throughout upper reaches of both rivers currently range from neutral to severely acidic due to deposition of acid rain throughout their watersheds. Fish surveys conducted by the USGS during the late 1980s and early 1990s found that some fish species and entire assemblages were absent or depressed in many tributaries and second and third order reaches of both rivers. Recent decreases in acidity of atmospheric deposition and changes in hydrologic and thermal regimes are now affecting water chemistry (e.g., pH, acid neutralizing capacity, dissolved organic...
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The coastal areas of southeastern New York (fig. 1) are highly vulnerable to tidal flooding (fig. 2). Timely evacuation of people from flood-threatened areas in advance of approaching hurricanes and nor'easters (northeast coastal storms) requires adequate flood-warning time. To begin addressing this need for immediate information on coastal flooding, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Town of Hempstead Department of Conservation & Waterways, Village of Freeport, and New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, has operated a network of real-time tidal water-elevation and meteorological stations since 1997 in the coastal areas of Long Island and New York City. Each tidal water-elevation...
Categories: Data, Project; Types: Downloadable, Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, Shapefile; Tags: Climate Impacts, Climate Impacts, Climate impacts, Coastal Science, Coastal Science, All tags...
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The St. Lawrence River at Massena Remedial Action Plan (RAP) Area of Concern (AOC) begins above the power dam facilities and seaway locks at the Massena Village drinking water intake and follows the river downstream for about fifteen miles to the international border. For New York State, the AOC includes portions of the Grasse, Raquette and St. Regis Rivers. There are three governmental agency groupings that share jurisdictional responsibilities for the AOC. These are the United States, Canada, and the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe at Akwesasne. The Cornwall portion of the AOC includes lands in Ontario, Quebec, and the Mohawks extending downstream of the power dam to the eastern outlet of Lake St. Francis. Since 2010,...
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Problem Coastal communities are susceptible to damage from coastal storms and associated storm surge, and although tidal wetlands provide a buffer against shoreline erosion and aid in shoreline stabilization, they too are vulnerable to the action of storms. Tidal wetland dynamics need to be better understood, as they are also intrinsically valuable as nursery, feeding, and refuge areas for many commercial and recreational fisheries, and significantly contribute to the base of the marine food web. Wetlands trap sediments, reduce turbidity, and absorb nutrients and pollutants thereby improving water quality, and they provide many recreational opportunities. Tidal wetland stability needs to be assessed using a sediment...
Categories: Data, Project; Types: Downloadable, Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, Shapefile; Tags: Beach and Barrier dynamics, Climate and Land-Use Change, Climate and Land-Use Change, Climate and Land-Use Change, Coastal Science, All tags...
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Delhi has experienced severe flooding along the West Branch Delaware River (fig. 1); most notably during January, 1996, June, 2006, and October, 2010, and August, 2011. Emergency responders would benefit from a library of flood-inundation maps that are referenced to the stages recorded at the USGS streamgage upstream from Delhi. By referring to the appropriate map, emergency responders could discern the severity of flooding (depth of water and aerial extent), identify roads that are or will soon be flooded, and make plans for notification or evacuation of residents in harm’s way based on current and near-future flood levels. Digital flood-inundation maps for a 5 mile reach of the West Branch Delaware River through...
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Background Fish communities of the mainstem Mohawk River and Barge Canal have been well-documented (Carlson, 2015; George et al., 2016) but comparatively less information is available regarding the current status of fish communities in tributaries to the Mohawk River. This information gap is problematic because long-term shifts in species distributions or abundances due to climate change, eutrophication, or other anthropogenic stressors may go unnoticed in the absence of baseline data. More importantly, an approaching invasive fish species, the Round Goby (Neogobius melanostomus), is expected to colonize much of the Mohawk River and the lower portion of many major tributaries. Introductions of Round Goby have had...
map background search result map search result map Water-Quality Characterization of Subbasins in the Onondaga Lake Basin, Onondaga County, New York, by Land Type An Integrated Assessment of the Recovery of Surface Waters from Reduced Levels of Acid Precipitation in the Catskill and Adirondack Regions, New York Southeastern New York Tide-Telemetry and Coastal-Flood-Warning System Flood-Inundation Maps for the West Branch Delaware River, Delhi, New York Estuarine Physical Response to Storms—Jamaica Bay Detection and Quantification of Oxygenated Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (oxy-PAHs) in Groundwater Near the Former Manufactured Gas Plant in Bay Shore, N.Y. Water Use in New York Development of a Coordinated Water Resources Monitoring Strategy for the South Shore Estuary Reserve, Long Island NY Effects of Watershed and In-stream Liming on Accelerated Recovery of Macroinvertebrate Assemblages in Tributaries to Honnedaga Lake St. Lawrence Monitoring Network – Lake Ontario Lake Management Plan Massena, NY Area of Concern (AOC) Detailed Aquifer Mapping in the Owasco Inlet valley Towns of Moravia, Locke (Cayuga County) and Groton (Tompkins County), New York Effects of acid-base chemistry on biology of lakes and streams in the Adirondack Mountains Responses of fish assemblages to changing environmental conditions in the Neversink River and Rondout Creek An Investigation into the Water Surface Elevation Changes of Moreau Lake, Moreau Lake State Park, Saratoga County, NY Assessment of pathogen sources to Hook Pond, East Hampton, New York Development of Long Island Water Quality Integrated Data System (LIQWIDS) - User interface and web services in support of collaboration under the Long Island Nitrogen Action Plan(LINAP) Quantitative Fish Surveys of Mohawk River Tributaries Hydrogeologic and Geochemical Assessment of the Effects of Leakage from the Catskill and Delaware Aqueducts on the Local Bedrock and Overburden Aquifers in Southeastern New York Eighteenmile Creek Area of Concern Fish Community Assessment DETAILED AQUIFER MAPPING OF THE MALONE, N.Y. AREA (Adirondack foothills and St. Lawrence lowlands transect) Franklin County, New York Assessment of pathogen sources to Hook Pond, East Hampton, New York Flood-Inundation Maps for the West Branch Delaware River, Delhi, New York Effects of Watershed and In-stream Liming on Accelerated Recovery of Macroinvertebrate Assemblages in Tributaries to Honnedaga Lake An Investigation into the Water Surface Elevation Changes of Moreau Lake, Moreau Lake State Park, Saratoga County, NY Estuarine Physical Response to Storms—Jamaica Bay Detailed Aquifer Mapping in the Owasco Inlet valley Towns of Moravia, Locke (Cayuga County) and Groton (Tompkins County), New York Eighteenmile Creek Area of Concern Fish Community Assessment DETAILED AQUIFER MAPPING OF THE MALONE, N.Y. AREA (Adirondack foothills and St. Lawrence lowlands transect) Franklin County, New York Water-Quality Characterization of Subbasins in the Onondaga Lake Basin, Onondaga County, New York, by Land Type Responses of fish assemblages to changing environmental conditions in the Neversink River and Rondout Creek Development of a Coordinated Water Resources Monitoring Strategy for the South Shore Estuary Reserve, Long Island NY St. Lawrence Monitoring Network – Lake Ontario Lake Management Plan Massena, NY Area of Concern (AOC) Development of Long Island Water Quality Integrated Data System (LIQWIDS) - User interface and web services in support of collaboration under the Long Island Nitrogen Action Plan(LINAP) Hydrogeologic and Geochemical Assessment of the Effects of Leakage from the Catskill and Delaware Aqueducts on the Local Bedrock and Overburden Aquifers in Southeastern New York Quantitative Fish Surveys of Mohawk River Tributaries Effects of acid-base chemistry on biology of lakes and streams in the Adirondack Mountains Southeastern New York Tide-Telemetry and Coastal-Flood-Warning System An Integrated Assessment of the Recovery of Surface Waters from Reduced Levels of Acid Precipitation in the Catskill and Adirondack Regions, New York Water Use in New York