Abstract
The 14th Mohawk Watershed Symposium offers an exciting and diverse set of presentations on water quality, fisheries and habitats, flooding and resilience, and recreation and stewardship. The 2021-2026 Mohawk River Basin Action Agenda, our critical guiding document, focuses on conserving, preserving, and restoring the Mohawk River Watershed while helping to manage the ecosystem services for a sustainable future. Much of the defining discussion by stakeholders occurs at the annual Mohawk Watershed Symposium, and given this watershed blueprint and ongoing environmental change, we see that the challenge ahead is enormous. We are experiencing a firehose of environmental change. This last year (2023) was globally the warmest year on record. Winter in the Mohawk Watershed and in the Northeast US was also the warmest on record. The Great Lakes - a source of moisture to the Mohawk Watershed - have the lowest levels of ice cover ever recorded, which affects lake-effect precipitation. The North Atlantic - another source of moisture for the Watershed - is warming remarkably quickly. The Northeast has experienced the largest increase in extreme precipitation in the nation. There are important warning signs that we may be at a key inflection point. Changes have already occurred in the Watershed, and there is widespread recognition by the public that a response is needed. We as stakeholders need to understand quickly how these changes manifest themselves in the Watershed, and we also need to develop and implement strategies to build resilience and adaptation. The firehose of change affects water quality and drinking water, fisheries, flooding, and infrastructure. If we layer on problems with our aging pipes, bridges, and dams, it is not hard to see that the problems are acute. If we proceed at a business-as-usual pace, we will fail. A critical question is how we respond to these changes and how fast we can respond. Key players in all of this are the stakeholders in the basin who can direct and shape the response. Flooding remains a central concern of many stakeholders. Flood dynamics are changing in a significant way due to warmer winters and an increase in extreme weather events. The release of the Upstate NY Flood Mitigation task force report in July 2023 was welcome because it illuminated the flood hazard and mitigation options here in the Mohawk Watershed and in the adjacent Oswego Watershed. One thing this report did was highlight the vulnerability of our infrastructure to damaging floods. The report stressed the need for a numerical watershed model for the Mohawk, which will be critically important for understanding flood events and how the channels and floodplains are modified by extreme weather events. The task force report also highlighted the need to address sedimentation in the main stem that is driven by erosion in tributaries; this will be a major challenge. Water quality remains a central issue in the Watershed. and a large number of stakeholders are focused on improving water quality. For a healthy and vibrant ecosystem and the ecosystem services that the River provides, we need clean water, including drinking water. Fortunately, the quality of drinking water in the Watershed is receiving more and more scrutiny due to legislation associated with the EPA Lead and Copper Rule, lead-testing in schools, and PFAS testing. Road salt is causing considerable damage to our aquatic ecosystems and drinking water supplies. In September 2023 the Adirondack Road Salt Reduction Task Force released its long-awaited report on assessment and recommendations for salt reduction in the Adirondacks. There is hope that this report will pave the way for a statewide approach to reducing salt, because, as the report shows, the most severe problems are outside the Blue Line, and this is especially true in urban areas in the Mohawk Watershed. A critical piece of the task force report is a much-needed discussion of the regulatory standard for chloride in surface waters. Our understanding of aquatic organisms and pollution has advanced in remarkable ways in part due to the ability to identify genetic material in water. Environmental DNA (eDNA) is being used to track invasive species that are accessing the Mohawk Watershed through the Erie Canal, and to understand how dams are keeping some native migratory fish from accessing the Watershed. Water-quality monitoring benefits from dramatic reduction in cost, and in addition the source of bacteria in polluted waters can be pinpointed using host-specific genetic markers in water samples (qPCR) using Microbial Source tracking (MST). Molecular methods are also being coupled with nutrient sampling to explore microbial populations in the Mohawk and the potential for formation of toxic algal blooms. Therefore we are at a point where we are addressing old problems with new analytical tools, and addressing new problems with those same tools. A major concern are threats to ecosystem integrity in the Mohawk Watershed from aquatic invasive species (AIS). As we have seen in the past few years, the invasive pressure is primarily west to east, and mainly along the Erie Canal Corridor. We have watched the stunning success of the Round Goby, which entered the Mohawk and worked its way into the Hudson River. With such a high density of invasive species in the Great Lakes due to dumping of ballast water, there is pressure to stem the flow of AIS that are entering the Hudson-Mohawk from the west. This is complicated and difficult, and involves multiple levels of stakeholder engagement. Hopefully we are entering a new era of increased communication and stakeholder engagement in the Mohawk Watershed. Stewardship and education at the community level are a critical piece of effective watershed management. Youth education programs centered on water quality and ecosystem health ensure that all our waterways pass into the hands of the next generation with active, engaged, and knowledgeable stewards in place.
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Copyright Information: © 2024 Geosciences Department, Union College, Schenectady NY. All rights reserved. No part of the document can be copied and/or redistributed, electronically or otherwise, without written permission from the Geosciences Department, Union College, Schenectady, NY, 12308, U.S.A.Digital Publisher
Geology Department, Union CollegeAbstract
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.
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The 12th Mohawk Watershed Symposium was cancelled due to Covid-19. This abstract volume, which was essentially complete at the time of cancellation, is the record of the meeting that did not happen. Over the years this Symposium has taken on an important role in unifying and galvanizing stakeholders in the watershed. A coalition of invested stakeholders allows us as a group to tackle important issues that affect water quality, recreation opportunities, flood mitigation, and other basin-wide issues. By all measures, 2019 was a big year in the watershed. The historic 2019 Halloween Storm caused significant damage in the upper part of the watershed, especially in the West Canada Creek, East Canada Creek, and a number of smaller tributaries. Aid from FEMA for individual assistance was denied and this has caused considerable distress for those with damaged homes. A major effort this year was the work of the Reimagine the Canal task force. This task force took on a number of issues related to the entire Erie Canal, which was divided into Western, Central, and Mohawk sections. Issues included water for irrigation, invasive species, flooding, and ice jamming. The Mohawk was perhaps the most complicated because the Canal and the main stem of the Mohawk need to co-exist despite change in the watershed. The task force effort included the Mohawk Flood Assessment aimed at evaluating benefits from a number of flood mitigation strategies along the length of the River. It also acted on a separate report on ice jamming in the Schenectady Pool in front of the Vischer Ferry Dam, at Lock E7. The Vischer Ferry Dam (VFD) on the lower Mohawk has been under the spotlight for years - in part for its suspected role in causing ice jams that then can flood the Stockade of Schenectady. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) license is coming up, so NYPA, the dam owner, started the renewal process last year for both the VFD and the Crescent Dam, just downstream. The FERC review process can force significant environmental review of the ways in which dams integrate into the local ecosystem and relate to river hydrology. Meanwhile, the City of Schenectady continues formulating its ambitious plan to use FEMA funds to mitigate flooding in Stockade. The plan moving forward may involve elevating or perhaps moving homes in a managed retreat. This plan is intertwined with mitigation efforts for ice jamming at the VFD because jamming causes back-up flooding that can affect the Stockade. Water quality remains a central issue in the watershed and a growing number of stakeholders are involved in this effort. For a healthy and vibrant ecosystem we need clean water. The health of our waters can only be assessed from hundreds of measurements taken across the watershed by students, educators, and dedicated professionals from SUNY Cobleskill, SUNY Polytechnic in Utica, Union College, Cornell, Schoharie River Center, Riverkeeper, DEC, USGS, and others who have been addressing water quality through research. These critical measurements include quantifying the distribution, source, and fate of environmental contaminants including fecal bacterial, microplastics, nitrogen, phosphorus, and others. Stewardship and education are a critical piece of effective watershed management. Stakeholder meetings such as the Mohawk Watershed Symposium, and local water advocates (including West Canada Creek Alliance, Riverkeeper, and Dam Concerned Citizens) play a key role in identifying problems, educating the public, and effecting change where it is most needed. Youth education programs centered on water quality and ecosystem health, such as the Environmental Study Teams at both the Schoharie River Center and Fort Plain High School, insure that all our waterways pass into the hands of the next generation of active, engaged, and knowledgeable stewards. The meeting this year would have featured approximately 30 presentations covering a wide range of topics. We were delighted to see so many familiar names and we welcome those new to the Mohawk Watershed Symposium. We will be back as soon as possible. Abstracts include: Reimagining the Erie Canal / Mohawk River as flood risk mitigation resource K. Avery, B. Juza . S. 6893 Flood Buyout Bill M. Buttenschon, J. Griffo Detection, quantification and identification of enteric bacteria in the upper Hudson River - a pilot study J. Cohen, N. Geier, K. Songao, O. Spencer, A. LoBue, W. Quidort Algal community dynamics in the lower Mohawk River A. Conine, M. Schnore Relating microbial diversity to nitrogen cycling in the Mohawk River and diverse freshwater ecosystems J. Damashek, A. Dautovic, C. Garrett Stockade resilience: adaptive preservation on the Mohawk River, Schenectady, New York K. Diotte Increasing fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) counts in the Mohawk River and elsewhere in the Hudson watershed since 2015 J. Epstein, B. Brabetz, A. Juhl, C. Knudsen, N. Law, J. Lipscomb, G. O'Mullan, S. Pillitteri, C. Rodak, D. Shapley Notes from a Watershed - The Mohawk River J. Garver The Halloween flood of 2019 in the Mohawk River watershed C. Gazoorian Streamflow capture along the Mohawk River: determining transit time to municipal well-field J. Gehring, M. Stahl, D. Gillikin, A. Verheyden-Gillikin Eastward expansion of invasive Round Goby towards the Hudson River S. George, B. Baldigo, C. Rees, M. Bartron Pervious concrete offers a prospective solution to contaminated runoff threatening water quality A. Ghaly The swinging environmental pendulum: how policies and attitudes shift with changes in US administration A. Ghaly eDNA methods help reveal barriers to American Eel (Anguilla rostrate) migration into the Mohawk River, New York H. Green, M. Wilder, H. Miraly, C. Nack, K. Limburg Naturalizing the Mohawk River: navigating the political challenges of change S. Gruskin Plastic Pollution: Nurdles and the Coleco Connection" Utilizing digital storytelling by youth to educate the public about emergent environmental concerns in their community K. Hensley F. Staley C. Cherizard A. Francisco L. English D. Carlson P. Munson J. McKeeby S. Hadam E. McHale Numerical modeling of breakup ice dynamics in the lower Mohawk River F. Huang H. Shen J. Garver A five-year series of snap-shots: Data and observations of Enterococci and Escherichia coli levels from a Mohawk River water quality project as it enters Year Six of a longitudinal study N. Law B. Brabetz K. Boulet A. Giacinto C. Rodak J. Epstein J. Lipscomb D. Shapley A flood insurance analysis of Schenectady's Stockade district W. Nechamen Potential opportunities for tributary reconnections within the Erie Canal and Mohawk River A. Peck K. France R. Shirer Exploring baseline water quality conditions in the Mohawk River: Observations of fecal indicator bacteria during the Fall of 2018 and Summer of 2019 C. Rodak E. Haddad Mohawk River watershed modeling in SWAT M. Schnore A. Conine Microplastic pollution in Mohawk River tributaries: likely sources and potential implications for the Mohawk Watershed J. Smith E. Caruso N. Wright Is there a Corps of Engineer/State Flood Control role in the Mohawk Basin? R. Wege Climate related discoveries 62 years of daily CO2 measurements and the Keeling Curve F. Wicks Enterococci levels in the Hans Groot Kill and Mohawk River Schenectady NY E. Willard-Bauer J. Smith J. Garver D. Goldman B. Newcomer Incorporating ice jam flooding into regulatory base flood elevations at the historic Schenectady Stockade J. Woidt J. Rocks"
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The 13th Mohawk Watershed Symposium has been delayed by two years due to the pandemic, but we are excited to finally get back together and concentrate on the issues that affect the Mohawk River Watershed. Over the years the Symposium has taken on an important role in unifying and galvanizing stakeholders. Since the last meeting in 2019, the Mohawk River Basin Program has updated and released the 2021-2026 Mohawk River Basin Action Agenda, which is a critical guiding document for the Mohawk River Watershed. The program mission is conserving, preserving, and restoring the environmental quality of the Mohawk River while helping to manage the Watershed’s resources for a sustainable future. Mitigation of ice jamming on the lower Mohawk River behind the Vischer Ferry dam was targeted by the Reimagine the Canals task force. Since 2020, the Canal Corporation and New York Power Authority (NYPA) have initiated ice-breaking procedures to lessen the impact of ice-jamming with an overall goal of reducing the flood hazard in the Historic Stockade of Schenectady. There, and elsewhere in the basin, communities are implementing flood mitigation projects that include riparian restoration, channel restoration, and building resilience into a system where the hydrology appears to be changing rapidly. Water quality remains a central issue and a large number of stakeholders are involved in this effort. For a healthy and vibrant ecosystem, along with the ecosystem services that the River provides, we need clean water. The health of our waters can be assessed from hundreds of measurements taken across the Watershed by dedicated stakeholders. New and important state and federal programs will provide local municipalities with the funding to address infrastructure problems that affect water quality. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYS DEC) is in the process of developing a watershed-wide Total Daily Maximum Load (TMDL) for phosphorus pollution, which is a major step in addressing water quality in the Watershed. Invasive species are having an impact on biodiversity, recreation, and water quality. The uncontrolled spread of Water Chestnut (Trapa natans), that spread from its original introduction in Collins Pond in Scotia, has affected boating and marina access in the lower Mohawk River. The Round Goby (Neogobius melanostomus), which was a stowaway in ballast water in Great Lakes freighters, successfully navigated the Erie Canal and entered the Mohawk several years ago, and made it to the Hudson in 2021. It now threatens Lake Champlain. This small benthic predator has the potential to alter our fishery because it preys on the eggs of other fish and carries disease. We need proactive solutions to invasive species control, especially for those unassisted invaders using the Erie Canal from the Great Lakes. As we are reminded by the NYS DEC: “Prevention is the most effective method for dealing with invasive species. If they are never introduced, they never become established.” Stewardship and education are a critical piece of effective watershed management. Stakeholder meetings like the Mohawk Watershed Symposium and local water advocates play a key role in identifying problems, educating the public, and effecting change where it is most needed. Youth education programs centered on water quality and ecosystem health ensure that all our waterways pass into the hands of a next generation of active, engaged, and knowledgeable stewards.
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In CopyrightAdditional Rights / Restrictions
Copyright Information: © 2023 Geosciences Department, Union College, Schenectady NY. All rights reserved. No part of the document can be copied and/or redistributed, electronically or otherwise, without written permission from the Geosciences Department, Union College, Schenectady, NY, 12308, U.S.A.Digital Publisher
Geology Department, Union CollegeAbstract
This is the full volume of extended abstracts for the 10th Mohawk Watershed Symposium. The meeting continues to serve as a focal point for concerned and invested stakeholders. It helps to keep all involved informed about important issues that affect water quality, recreation opportunities, hazards and other developments in the basin. The flood hazard remains an important issue in the basin, especially for those river-lining communities along the Mohawk and tributaries. Identification of the hazards, monitoring, and solutions to chronically flooded areas are a top priority for many stakeholders. Monitoring physical parameters in the River by HRECOS, the USGS Ice Jam monitoring system, and others play an important role in understanding and modelling physical aspects of the river. Modelling is becoming important as we try to understand floods, flooding, and associated hazards. The Northeast and NY State had a major ice jam problem this winter. The lower Mohawk River was affected by an historic ice jam and ice jam flooding that occupied considerable time and resources for emergency management. A mid-winter jam formed in mid January, and subsequent thaw in late January release upstream ice and lengthened it to 17 miles. A thaw in late February resulted in high water, flooding, and release of the ice. Once again, the lower parts of the historic Stockade district were flooded, and the event triggered new calls for ways to address this chronic problem. This event solidified monitoring and assessment efforts by the local county emergency management (mainly Albany, Schenectady, and Montgomery), the USGS, NOAA/NWS, FEMA, and academia. Water quality remains a central issue in the Watershed. USGS and NYSDEC have been working to develop a Water quality Model for the Mohawk, which will be presented at the meeting. A critical component of understanding water quality is data from hundreds of measurements across the watershed. Researchers from SUNY Cobleskill, SUNY Polytechnic Institute in Utica, Union, Cornell, the Schoharie River Center, and Riverkeeper have had a busy year collecting and analyzing samples that address water quality issues in the main stem of the Mohawk, and in tributaries by making measurements. These critical measurements include quantifying the distribution, source, and fate of environmental contaminants including fecal bacterial, microplastics, nitrogen, phosphorus, and other compounds that affect water quality. We are seeing new and exciting new research on the identification and quantification of micropollutents, and these new analytical approaches will provide important information on subtle and unrecognized sources of environmental contamination in the basin. The Mohawk River is one of the largest sources of drinking water in the Capital District, and nearly 100,000 people in Colonie and Cohoes. Despite the importance of this critical source, we lack a source water protection program, and Riverkeeper will present ideas and approaches from tributaries in the Hudson that may serve as a model for the Mohawk. Increasingly we look to the river for inspiration, recreation, and this can have a direct impact on community focus and economic development, and we can predict that this river-centric view will increase as water quality improves. As such, we face some issues related to connecting communities to the river, while recognizing that water quality and flooding guide fundamental decisions. Conservation and ecosystem protection remains a central priority to effective watershed management. We are seeing new plans for identification of priority areas, and specific approaches to ecosystem management that directly affects water quality. On to the future. The next generation continues to be very active in the Mohawk and tributaries, and once again we are pleased that so many students can be part of the annual MWS symposium. The Schoharie River Center (SRC) continues to have a focus on water quality assessment, and initiated a new program for microplastic collection and identification. The Fort Plain environmental study team, an SRC partner, continues to focus on community-based science primarily focussed on water quality, and education of high school youth. We are getting a new Action Agenda in the watershed - our guiding blueprint for watershed management - and we need your help. In 2009, the first Mohawk River Basin Action Agenda was developed by the NYSDEC and partners with five main goals that focused on an ecosystem-based approach to watershed management. This guiding document has provided important targets for stakeholders over the last decade. The vision behind the 2018-22 Action Agenda will be presented at this meeting. It will focus on the goal of a swimmable, fishable, resilient Mohawk River watershed that will be addressed through three main objectives: a) improve water quality; b) improve fisheries and habitat; and c) plan for resiliency. There will be a public comment period for this new plan, so you as a stakeholder should take the time to make your voice heard. Ten years of success. Today we celebrate a decade of consecutive meetings that have brought stakeholders together in this Symposium. This year's meeting features 29 presentations to shape the discussion and continue the conversation about issues within the basin. 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 310 talks, posters, and special presentations since inception in 2009
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