This supplemental report is an addendum to the original study 'Segment Analysis of Sucker Brook: The location of sources of pollution' (Makarewicz et a/. 1999). In the original study, recommendations for further investigation of two segments of Sucker Brook were suggested as follows. 1. The segment above Site 7 (Figure 1) in the City of Canandaigua had high concentrations of soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) and total phosphorus (TP) during an event January 1999. The source(s) was not identified. 2. The segment between Sites3 and 4 (Figure 1) had high concentrations of soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP), total phosphorus (TP) and total suspended solids (TSS). The source( s) was not identified. Three separate supplemental events, two for Site 7 and one for the segment between Sites 3 and 4 were sampled in 2000 to conclude the Sucker Brook Stressed Stream Analysis.

Oak Orchard Creek is on New York State’s “303(d)” (1972 Clean Water Act) list of impaired water bodies. Waters designated as 303(d) do not meet water quality standards that states, territories, and authorized tribes have set for them, even after point sources of pollution have installed the minimum required levels of pollution control technology. A 303(d) designation may require the eventual development of Total Maximum Daily Loading (TMDL) for a watershed as a mechanism of managing nutrient losses from a watershed. Funding was received by the Orleans County Soil and Water Conservation District from the Environmental Protection Agency to implement actions that address point and nonpoint sources of nutrient loading to the creek and Lake Ontario’s coastal zone. Thus, the intended use of the funds received was to support the coordination and acceleration of implementation of management practices for nonpoint source pollution, adaptive management strategies, and investigations identifying sources of nutrient pollution. Within the Oak Orchard Creek watershed, the specific goal of prevention and reduction of water pollution in the coastal zone of Lake Ontario is through watershed management, aquatic ecosystem restoration, and nonpoint source management. In this report, as a result of a contract with Orleans County Soil and Water Conservation District, The College at Brockport provides evidence indicating the identity, the location, and the intensity of pollution sources in the Oak Orchard watershed, compares Zone Tillage with Conventional Tillage practices, and develops an annual nutrient budget for Oak Orchard Creek as a basis for development of a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL).

Runoff from agricultural lands containing soil and nutrients poses a known threat to the water quality of embayments and coastal regions of Lake Ontario (Makarewicz 2000). The Lakeview Marsh State Wildlife Management Area in Jefferson County, NY is a prime example of these types of ecologically valuable coastal wetland and embayment habitats. This embayment / wetland complex is fed by the watersheds of Sandy Creek and South Sandy Creek. The mouths of these creeks contain globally rare freshwater dunes, diverse wetlands and several types of globally rare vegetation. Sandy Creek also provides an emergency unfiltered drinking water supply for the Village of Adams and the Hamlet of Adams Center. In general, the environmental effects of agricultural runoff, including eutrophication and sedimentation, on surface water bodies are serious local, regional and national issues. These issues create a dilemma for governmental leaders in agricultural areas; their most important economic industry, agriculture, may also be the cause of environmental degradation. For farmers, this is further exacerbated by the high profile increase of governmental regulation on agricultural operations. The agricultural industry needs scientific evidence that they are capable of being part of the solution not just part of the problem.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the loss of soil and nutrients from the upland area of ten selected small watersheds or subwatersheds surrounding Conesus Lake. Macrophyte beds of mixed composition exist around the entire edge of Conesus Lake – perimeter beds. In addition, macrophyte beds consisting mainly of Eurasian milfoil exist at or near many of the creek mouths within the littoral zone of Conesus Lake. These creek-mouth associated beds are of interest because their presence may be associated with creeks that lose a large amount of nutrients and soils from their subwatershed.

From an applied science perspective, a goal of the Canandaigua Lake water quality monitoring program was the development of a statistically defensible database of ecologically important parameters that would allow stewards of the watershed to prioritize and determine which subwatershed had the largest potential impact on Canandaigua Lake. Before the 2000 sampling season, we had collected and analyzed a total of 5 1 samples (36 event and 15 event samples) taken from 20 tributaries of Canandaigua Lake. After three years of sampling, the database was large enough to provide a reasonable estimate of annual nutrient and sediment loss from the tributaries into Canandaigua Lake allowing the subwatersheds to be prioritized. In addition, it was generally clear that most of the nutrient and soil loss from subwatersheds occurred during hydrometeorological events. In this report, the results of the 2000 events are compared to the previous three years of events. We also introduce the concept of the Watershed Index as a method to assess future trends in event and non-event loading in each subwatershed.

After several years of a general decrease in “concentrations” of various nutrients from managed watersheds, substantial increases in the concentrations of nutrients and soil particles were observed in streams during the summer of 2009 (Makarewicz and Lewis 2009). At Graywood Gully, for example, concentrations of soil (TSS), total phosphorus (TP), soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP), total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN), and nitrate increased in the stream water. At Cottonwood Gully, after a 5-year decrease, nitrate concentration (NO3+NO2) increased to levels not observed since 2003. Similar increases were observed in the Southwest, Sand Point, North Gully, Sutton Point and Long Point subwatersheds. Several factors may have contributed to this observed increase in the concentration of dissolved and particulate material; some are natural (variation in rainfall amount and intensity); others are affected by human actions (changes in land use or management practices). Although the increases observed in all the monitored streams may be related to new or changing farming practices, it could not be ruled out that the significant rainfalls in the spring and early summer of 2009 are not the cause. A limitation of the approach taken in 2008 and 2009 was that discharge was not measured as it was in the USDA study. Concentration of analytes is a function of discharge from streams; that is, as discharge increases, concentrations increase as more material is washed from the land and more material is dissolved. The observed increases could simply be due to the higher than usual rainfalls in May and especially June. For example, the daily rate of precipitation in June was twice the rate for any other previous year since 2002. May precipitation was the highest since 2003. Also, a visual inspection of this watersheds in summer of 2009 ruled out any major changes in land use. The increase in nutrient loss from all of the USDA watersheds during the summer of 2009 suggests that the approach taken of using concentration data only to evaluate temporal trends may misinterpreted. The three objectives of this summer’s work were: 1) To reevaluate the stream concentration approach to assessment of stream water by converting the data in the amount of an analyte lost from a subwatershed and to apply a statistical approach that account for discharge; 2) To monitor and nutrient and sediment input from selected watersheds; and, 3) To develop rating curves of discharge and evaluate nutrient loss from the Inlet and South McMillan Creek.

Chaumont Bay is a 9,000-acre embayment located on the east end of Lake Ontario. The bay receives tributary waters from Guffon Creek, Three Mile Creek, and the Chaumont River, creating three smaller embayments within Chaumont Bay on the northeastern side. The bay is lined by shoreline development, but the watershed is primarily agriculture. Algae blooms plague Chaumont Bay and hamper boating, swimming, and fish consumption. Direct sewage discharges into Chaumont Bay have been documented, but inadequate septic systems are considered the primary source of nutrient loading to the bay. This short report provides a synopsis of data collected monthly from May through September (2005 to 2009) on the water quality of Chaumont Bay and the lakeside (swimmable depth) of Lake Ontario near the bay.

Little Sodus Bay is a 728-acre embayment on the southern Lake Ontario shoreline, located in the Town of Fair Haven, New York. The bay has a mean depth of 22 feet, a maximum depth of 37 feet, and is not fed by any major tributaries. Little Sodus Bay connects to Lake Ontario through a narrow channel located in the northwest corner of the bay. The watershed surrounding the bay is composed of land roughly 20% agricultural, 18% developed land (mostly limited development), 61% forest, 1% wetlands, and 0.1% quarry (The Camdus Group 2007). Little Sodus Bay has nuisance algae and weed problems that impact water recreation. Northern and Eurasian Milfoil are a particular problem and are so dense in some shallow areas of the bay that boat navigation is hindered. Diquat dibromide was applied to control aquatic growth in the 1980s, and in the 1990s the Cayuga Soil and Water District started a weed harvesting program. Fish spawning in the bay has been identified as stressed, the result of benthic anoxia caused by cultural addition of nutrients (Makarewicz 2000). This short report provides a synopsis of data collected monthly from May through September (2003 to 2009) on the water quality of Little Sodus Bay and the lakeside (swimmable depth) of Lake Ontario near the bay.

The preponderance of evidence suggests that the plankton community of Eighteenmile Creek is not impacted by contaminants. The summer zooplankton community of Eighteenmile Creek has a similar or higher species richness, a remarkably similar measure of dominance (i.e., evenness) and in July, a comparable abundance to the relatively pollution-free reference sites at Yanty, Buttonwood, and Salmon Creeks. Similarly in June, zooplankton abundance, species richness, and evenness for Eighteenmile Creek were between the values for the reference sites at Yanty Creek and Buttonwood and Salmon Creeks. Further support of this analogous comparison is provided by the phytoplankton data. Species richness, evenness, abundance, and species composition of phytoplankton are similar for Eighteenmile Creek, the unpolluted reference site at Yanty Creek, and for the AOC at the Oswego River and Harbor for the months of June and August. Seasonal changes, sample timing, and local sampling site characteristics and location can be challenging to data assessment and reference site comparison; however, substantially similar and healthy communities indicate no overall degradation or impairment in the planktonic populations in the Eighteenmile Creek AOC.

The Niagara River carries water from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario and is the major source of Lake Ontario’s water volume. Famous for the immense Niagara Falls, the 36-mile river is used by over 1 million people in the United States and Canada for functions including drinking water, recreation, and hydropower (Niagara Parks 2009). The Niagara River drains the entire upper Great Lake system into the final lake, Lake Ontario, and due to this huge volume of water has a large potential to change Lake Ontario’s water quality. Nuisance algae, bacterial abundance, and algal mat development along the southern shoreline of Lake Ontario are major causes of beach closings, fouling the nearshore waters and limiting water recreation. This short report provides a synopsis of data collected monthly from May through September (2003 to 2009) on the water quality of the Niagara River and the lakeside (swimmable depth, surface sample at a 1-m depth) of Lake Ontario near the mouth of the river.