Oak Orchard Creek Orleans County, New York

Abstract

Oak Orchard Creek is a major tributary of Lake Ontario, with a watershed straddling Orleans and Genesee counties. Surrounding land use is a mix of residential, small commercial businesses, and agriculture. The Elba and Oakfield sewage treatment plants are located along Oak Orchard Creek, as are three hydroelectric dams located in Oak Orchard, Glenwood, and Waterport (Zollweg et al. 2005). The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation lists fishing in Oak Orchard as threatened. There have been high measures of DDT, DDE, DDD, PAHs, and arsenic identified near Lyndonville, NY, at one of these sites (Makarewicz 2000). 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 Oak Orchard Creek and the lakeside (swimmable depth) of Lake Ontario near the mouth of the creek.