Proceedings of the 2017 Mohawk Watershed Symposium, Union College, Schenectady, NY

This abstract volume contains the program and extended abstracts for 39 presentations at the Annual Mohawk Watershed Symposium. The focus this year is on water quality.This is the 9th annual Mohawk Watershed Symposium and over the years the meeting has taken on an important role in unifying and galvanizing stakeholders in the Basin. Building and sustaining a coalition of concerned and invested stakeholders allow us to be informed about important issues that affect water quality, recreation opportunities, and other developments in the basin. This was a big year in the Watershed with a number of exciting and interesting developments. The NYS Canal System was designated a National Historic Landmark and this designation places the currently operating canal system among the premier historic sites in the United States. In addition, this year we celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Canal, it is important to think about how the canal has affected NY State and the watershed. Earlier in 2016, the Erie Canal, which is a big part of the State Canal Corp, was taken over by the NY Power Authority (NYPA). Since 1992 it was under the Thruway Authority, and this new transfer is certainly an interesting development as the Canal struggles with costs, some of which are a hangover from Irene in 2011. This last summer was a pretty dry, and drought and near drought conditions affected much of the basin. In the early part of summer 2016, the Canal Corporation directed the NYPA to reduce releases from Hinckley Reservoir according to the 2012 Operating Diagram. The newly completed Mohawk Valley Gateway Overlook Bridge in Amsterdam was funded through the 2005 Rebuild and Renew New York Transportation Bond, and this development is part of an effort to look to the River for economic and cultural transformation in river-lining cities on the Mohawk. Water contamination, brownfields, and water quality are intricately intertwined. PCBs, PFOS and PFOA, Pb, microplastics, and other toxins in our environment and our drinking water dominated this past year's headlines. Locally we are making progress: Schenectady had one of the more contaminated brownfields in the basin, and the important remediation effort allowed this river-lining property to be developed into the new Rivers Casino, which opened in February of 2017. This is an important lesson in cleaning brownfields, and development of urban areas in communities that are along the River. Our infrastructure needs attention because its failure is affecting water quality. One of the sad stories of the past year is the sewage leak in Amsterdam where millions of gallons of raw sewage has dumped into the Mohawk. Discovered in July 2016, the spill continues (March 2017), and this has become symbolic of the struggle to fix our aging infrastructure and its impact on water quality in the Basin. Amsterdam will receive millions from the state Water Infrastructure Improvement Act and loans from the Clean Water State Revolving Fund. Some positive news from the upper part of the watershed as money and work has gone into improving the sewage system in Utica / Oneida county. Once done, the project will reduce the amount of sewage that flows into the Mohawk River by reducing the reliance on Combined Sanitary and Sewer outfalls. There is hope that our aging infrastructure, and thus water quality, is being addressed at the State and Federal level. The Water Infrastructure Improvements act passed the U.S. House of Representatives and was subsequently signed by President Obama. The bill included Representative Tonko's AQUA Act and legislation updating the Safe Drinking Water Act. There has been considerable activity in the State, one highlight was the recent introduction of the Safe Water Infrastructure Action Program (SWAP) bill (S.3292/A.3907) introduced by Senator Tedisco and Assemblyman Steck in February 2017, which is designed to fund and maintain our local infrastructure including water, sewer, and storm water. We are making progress in the Mohawk Watershed, and the Symposium will highlight much of the new and exciting work that has happened over the last year. We are seeing money flow in the basin to address watershed science and education, and some of that money has gone directly to water quality studies. The NY Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) awarded more than $155,000 in Mohawk River Basin Program grants for four projects in the Mohawk River Basin Watershed. Results from these four projects will be presented this year as part of the invited presentations at the 2017 Symposium. We are indebted to our sponsors NYSDEC for their continued support, which helps to make each Symposium a success. We appreciate support from Cornell and from the Union College Geology Department. This year we have 39 presentations to shape the discussion and dialog. Some of these presentations are a direct result of funding from the new grants program at the NYSDEC that is aimed at fostering the five items on the Mohawk Basin Action agenda. We continue to see new ideas, many of them presented by students from a number of different educational institutions, this growth in student participation is both exciting, and a welcome sign of continued progress. By the end of the day, the Mohawk Watershed Symposium series will have been the forum for 281 talks, posters, and special presentations since inception in 2009.

Union College Schaffer Library Digital Projects

Geosciences Department, Union College: https://minerva.union.edu/garverj/mws/2024/symposium.html

Mohawk River Watershed (N.Y.)
Watershed management

Schenectady (N.Y.)
Mohawk River (N.Y.)