Segment Analysis of Sheldon Creek: The Location of Sources of Pollution

Abstract

Considerable concern about the deteriorating condition of Lake Neatahwanta has existed for well over a decade. A goal of the Oswego County Soil and Water Conservation District 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 sub-watershed had the largest potential impact on Lake Neatahwanta. After three years of sampling the four creeks draining into the lake, Sheldon Creek, as opposed to Ley, Summerville and Granby Creeks, was determined to be losing the largest amounts of water, soil and nutrients from its watershed. Having determined that Sheldon Creek was the major contributor of soil and nutrients to Lake Neatahwanta, the decision was made to focus point and nonpoint source identification efforts in the Sheldon Creek subwatershed. The Oswego Soil and Water Conservation District shifted its monitoring approach to a process known as segment analysis. In this procedure, the watershed is broken down into geographical segments and systematically analyzed to determine sources of soil and nutrient loss within the watershed that then can be targeted for remediation. Sources of nutrients and soil were observed in several segments.