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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 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 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 Over the past century, the Harlem River watershed has become highly urbanized with 90 percent of the waterway constrained by infrastructure, which has limited access for recreational use. Bound by New York (Manhattan) and Bronx Counties, the Harlem River is a tidal strait between urbanized estuaries to the north (Hudson River) and south (East River). Direct inputs include the more than 50 combined sewer overflows (CSOs) that discharge runoff from impervious surfaces and untreated sewage to the Harlem River during precipitation events. Historic uses of the Harlem River included swimming, boating, and fishing, as well as horseback riding and hiking through adjacent parklands. As urban sprawl continued...
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Background: The USGS propose a collaborative investigation with the NYSDEC and NOAA to evaluate the current condition of benthic macroinvertebrate communities and toxicity of bed sediments in the Niagara River Area of Concern (AOC). Using a probabilistic study design, sediment-toxicity data compiled by the USGS, invertebrate community data collected by NYSDEC, and sediment-chemistry data collected by NOAA will be assimilated using a Sediment Quality Triad approach (Chapman et al., 1992; USEPA, 1992) to provide a sediment-quality baseline needed to gauge changes expected to follow remediation of contaminated sediments in parts of the AOC. These data will also be used directly to confirm that the macroinvertebrate...
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Background Discharges from non-point sources, municipal and industrial point sources, and combined sewage overflows over the last century resulted in elevated levels of heavy metals, conventional pollutants, phosphorus, and toxic organic contaminants in water and sediments of the Lower Genesee River and Rochester Embayment. As a result, the zooplankton and phytoplankton or “plankton” communities were designated as one of fourteen Beneficial Use Impairments (BUI); i.e., the resource was either impaired or in need of assessment in the Rochester Embayment Area of Concern (AOC). The Rochester Embayment Remedial Action Committee (RAC) was formed by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC)...
Categories: Data, Project; Types: Downloadable, Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, Shapefile; Tags: Aquatic Community Health, Aquatic Community Health, Biogeochemical and Hydrologic Assessment, Biogeochemical and Hydrologic Assessment, BiogeochemicalandHydrologicAssessment, All tags...
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Background With few exceptions, the contemporary and past effects of acidification on fish populations and communities in streams across acid-sensitive regions of NY have not been documented. The pervasive lack of information only permits anecdotal insight into the spatial effects of acidification on stream-fish assemblages and essentially precludes any broad effort to quantify temporal trends and potential recovery of fish assemblages in less acidic or less toxic streams. Though the effects of acidification on fish assemblages have been qualified in several streams of the eastern Adirondacks during 1979, the 1980s, and early 2000s, (Schofield and Driscoll 1987; Simonin et al. 2005) quantitative impacts were...
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The Ellison Park wetland, a 423-acre, predominantly cattail marsh at the mouth of Irondequoit Creek in Monroe County near Rochester, N.Y., was evaluated for its potential role to decrease phosphorus loads that are derived from a 151-square-mile largely urbanized area and that ultimately enter and exacerbate efforts to ameliorate the eutrophic conditions in Irondequoit Bay. Monroe County's water-quality management plan included (1) modification of flow patterns upstream from and within the wetland by diverting storm runoff into backwater areas of the wetland, and (2) construction of a flow-control structure midway through the wetland that would cause short-term rises in water levels and increased dispersion of...
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The overall goal of this project has been the development of forest health and sensitivity indicators and “1st-generation” maps of potential sensitivity to disturbance for lands within watersheds of the NYC water supply in the Catskill Mountains of New York. The methodologies and data layers created in this effort can now be used to aid management decisions and help determine the extent and magnitude of terrestrial and aquatic responses to acidic deposition. The data products derived from this effort have been produced and documented in such a manner that stakeholders can now use these products for site evaluation as well as to perform more extensive analysis on the suite of readily available GIS and image-based...
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The National Network of Reference Watersheds is a collaborative and multipurpose network of minimally disturbed watersheds and monitoring sites. The purpose of this website is to allow users to search the NNRW database of reference watersheds, to identify watersheds of interest, and download watershed information and water quality data. The current scope of the network is limited to freshwater streams. Membership in the network is voluntary and open to individuals, agencies, and institutions interested in participating in monitoring and (or) research in minimally disturbed and pristine watersheds. The NNRW defines reference watersheds as those minimally disturbed by human activity preferably in an area protected...
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Problem - The entire Tug Hill glacial aquifer is a 47-mile-long, crescent-shaped mixture of glacial deposits of predominantly sand and gravel on the western side of the Tug Hill Plateau in Jefferson, Oswego, and Oneida Counties in north central New York. The Tug Hill aquifer can be divided into three parts (northern, central, and southern) based on geohydrological setting, depositional history, and type of glacial deposits (fig. 1). In this study, the name “Tug Hill glacial aquifer” refers only to the 29-mi-long northern and central parts of the Tug Hill aquifer. (The southern part was not included in this investigation.) For this study, the division between the northern and central parts of the aquifer was placed...
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Problem - The New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYCDEP) Stream Management Program, in cooperation with local Soil and Water Conservation Districts, is implementing stream-restoration demonstration projects to decrease channel bed and bank erosion and improve water quality (lower suspended sediment and turbidity) in several priority streams of the Catskill Mountain Region (Fig. 1). A variety of issues relating to (a) the hydraulic geometry of stable and unstable stream channels, (b) validation of underlying assumptions used to characterize channel stability and design, and (c) the effects of restoration on stream-channel geomorphology, stability, biota, and sediment transport have not been...
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Background Forested watersheds in the southwestern Adirondack Mountains of New York received some of the most acidic deposition in North America from the 1970s through much of the 1990s (NADP 2005). Thus it is not surprising that associated effects on surface-water quality and ecosystems in lakes and streams of the southwestern Adirondack Mountains of New York were investigated to various extents over the past 35 years; first to document acidification effects and then to evaluate potential recovery. In fact, evidence of adverse impacts on water quality and aquatic ecosystems across the region provided much support for implementation of the Clean Air Act (CAA) of 1990. Although the underlying effect mechanisms were...
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American Eel (Anguilla Rostrata) Background The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has worked in cooperation with The Nature Conservancy (TNC) over the past 11 years to study the effects of channel geomorphology and impoundments on the distribution of common and rare mussels in the Neversink River and to characterize fish assemblages in tributaries to the Upper Delaware River in New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. The focus of this research and monitoring program has recently shifted toward studies of the rapidly declining American eel (Anguilla rostrata) populations in rivers of the tri-state region. There are many factors that could potentially cause the observed declines in local and continental populations of...
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Problem Dissolved oxygen (DO) is an important indicator of water quality that until recently has been cost-prohibitive to monitor extensively in both space and time. Continuous water-quality data, particularly in coastal environments with bidirectional tidal flow, is necessary for resource managers to understand the dynamic changes in water quality that occur tidally, daily, seasonally, and during aperiodic events. In the estuaries surrounding Long Island, such events may include wastewater treatment plant failures, harmful algal blooms, and extreme weather. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has extensive experience with continuous water-quality monitoring at fixed locations along the coast that provides valuable...
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Project Summary. The Western Adirondack Stream Survey (WASS), conducted in 2003-2005, showed that acidic deposition was causing toxic forms of Al to move from soils to streams in 66% of the 565 watersheds assessed in the study region. The WASS encompassed only 20% of the Adirondack region, and for the remaining 80% (referred to hereafter as the East-Central Adirondack region), there is little information on the extent of soil and stream acidification. Based on lake-chemistry data, acidification in the East-Central Adirondack region has been considered minimal relative to the Western Adirondack region. However, some lake acidification has been identified, and WASS results showed that lake acidification under...
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PROBLEM The valley-fill aquifers in the West Branch Cayuga Inlet and Fish Kill valleys (designated as aquifer 15, fig.1), within the Town of Newfield, were mapped by Miller (2000) and identified as one of 17 unconsolidated aquifers in Tompkins County that need to be studied in more detail. The valley-fill in the West Branch Cayuga Inlet and Fish Kill valleys contain a heterogeneous mix of glacial deposits and recent alluvium under mostly unconfined conditions, but may they be under confined conditions in some places. The valley-fill deposits are sources of water for the Village of Newfield, homeowners, farms, and small businesses in these valleys. The Village of Newfield has recently been searching for another location...
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Background Although New York State has more than 70,000 miles of streams and rivers, little is known about the status, distribution, and trends of mercury (Hg) levels in stream fish, or the environmental drivers of these patterns. Streams and their riparian zones provide critical habitat for fish, birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians, and serve as the interface between aquatic and terrestrial Hg transfer, transformations (most notably methylation) and bioaccumulation. Importantly, monitoring data from lakes (e.g., Simonin et al. 2006) does not transfer reliably to streams because of fundamental differences in Hg cycling and bioaccumulation processes. An assessment of fish Hg bioaccumulation focused on New...
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Problem Previous hydrologic studies have indicated that there may be sufficient water resources underlying Queens, Kings, Richmond, New York, and Bronx Counties for use as a supplemental water supply in times of drought or other emergency. An extensive ground-water and surface-water monitoring program is necessary to provide a comprehensive hydrologic data set for use in ongoing and future ground-water investigations. Objective The project will provide a continuous hydrologic data set needed for resource assessment, planning, and protection. To meet this objective the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, maintains and operates a network of approximately...
Categories: Data, Project; Types: Downloadable, Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, Shapefile; Tags: Climate Impacts, Climate Impacts, Climate impacts, Contaminants, Emerging, Contaminants, Emerging, All tags...
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Background The Ashokan Reservoir is located in the Catskill Mountains of New York State and is part of New York City’s (NYC) water supply system. The NYC water-supply system is operated by the NYC Department of Environmental Protection (NYCDEP) under a filtration avoidance determination (FAD) issued by the New York State Department of Health. The Ashokan Reservoir watershed is 255 mi2 and is one of two reservoirs in the New York City Catskill Reservoir system and one of six reservoirs in the West-of-Hudson Catskill-Delaware system. The upper Esopus Creek is the primary tributary to the Ashokan Reservoir, with a 192 mi2 watershed from the source, Winnisook Lake, to the Ashokan Reservoir near Boiceville, NY. Suspended-sediment...
map background search result map search result map Geomorphology, Biology, & Stability of Catskill Mountain Streams, New York Estimating Acute and Chronic Toxicity of Waters from the Rochester Embayment Area of Concern Using Two Plankton Species Assessing American Eel Populations in Tributaries to the Upper Delaware River Balancing Wetland Functions in an Urban Setting -- Water-Quality Improvement and Habitat Preservation, Ellison Park Wetland, Monroe County, New York Assessment of Regional Forest Health and Stream and Soil Chemistry Using a Mulit-Scale Approach and New Methods of Remote Sensing Interpretation in the Catskill Mountains of New York Hydrologic-Data Collection in the Five Boroughs of New York City Assessing Spatiotemporal Patterns in Fish Assemblages from Acid-Sensitive Streams in the Adirondack and Catskill Mountains Continuous and Spatially Distributed Dissolved Oxygen Monitoring in Long Island Estuaries in Support of Coastal Resource Management. Development of a Coordinated Water Resources Monitoring Strategy for the South Shore Estuary Reserve, Long Island NY The National Network of Reference Watersheds Long-term Effects of the Clean Air Act on Water Toxicity and Brook Trout Survival in Acidified Streams of the Southwestern Adirondacks, 1984-2017 Status of benthic macroinvertebrate communities and toxicity of sediments in the Niagara River Area of Concern, New York Geohydrology of the Valley-Fill Aquifer in the West Branch Cayuga Inlet and Fish Kill Valleys, Town of Newfield, Tompkins County, New York St. Lawrence Monitoring Network – Lake Ontario Lake Management Plan Massena, NY Area of Concern (AOC) Assessment of Acidic Deposition Effects on the Chemistry and Benthos of Streams of the East-Central Adirondack Region Mercury Bioaccumulation in Fish in New York's Streams and Rivers Geohydrology and Water Quality of the Northern and Central Parts of the Tug Hill Glacial Aquifer, Jefferson and Oswego Counties, North Central New York Urban Waters Initiative – BRONX & HARLEM RIVERS Esopus Creek Sediment and Turbidity Study Responses of fish assemblages to changing environmental conditions in the Neversink River and Rondout Creek Balancing Wetland Functions in an Urban Setting -- Water-Quality Improvement and Habitat Preservation, Ellison Park Wetland, Monroe County, New York Geohydrology of the Valley-Fill Aquifer in the West Branch Cayuga Inlet and Fish Kill Valleys, Town of Newfield, Tompkins County, New York Urban Waters Initiative – BRONX & HARLEM RIVERS Estimating Acute and Chronic Toxicity of Waters from the Rochester Embayment Area of Concern Using Two Plankton Species Status of benthic macroinvertebrate communities and toxicity of sediments in the Niagara River Area of Concern, New York Esopus Creek Sediment and Turbidity Study Responses of fish assemblages to changing environmental conditions in the Neversink River and Rondout Creek Hydrologic-Data Collection in the Five Boroughs of New York City Geohydrology and Water Quality of the Northern and Central Parts of the Tug Hill Glacial Aquifer, Jefferson and Oswego Counties, North Central New York Continuous and Spatially Distributed Dissolved Oxygen Monitoring in Long Island Estuaries in Support of Coastal Resource Management. Development of a Coordinated Water Resources Monitoring Strategy for the South Shore Estuary Reserve, Long Island NY Long-term Effects of the Clean Air Act on Water Toxicity and Brook Trout Survival in Acidified Streams of the Southwestern Adirondacks, 1984-2017 St. Lawrence Monitoring Network – Lake Ontario Lake Management Plan Massena, NY Area of Concern (AOC) Assessing American Eel Populations in Tributaries to the Upper Delaware River Assessing Spatiotemporal Patterns in Fish Assemblages from Acid-Sensitive Streams in the Adirondack and Catskill Mountains Assessment of Regional Forest Health and Stream and Soil Chemistry Using a Mulit-Scale Approach and New Methods of Remote Sensing Interpretation in the Catskill Mountains of New York Geomorphology, Biology, & Stability of Catskill Mountain Streams, New York Assessment of Acidic Deposition Effects on the Chemistry and Benthos of Streams of the East-Central Adirondack Region Mercury Bioaccumulation in Fish in New York's Streams and Rivers The National Network of Reference Watersheds