Exchange of Mirex between Lake Ontario and its Tributaries

The 1974 discovery of mirex in Lake Ontario fish by Kaiser (1974) triggered a period of intensive study on the substance within the lake ecosystem. Two Lake Ontario tributaries were identified as sources of mirex. The Niagara River is the major source of mirex (366 kg) to Lake Ontario, while the Oswego River discharge (224 kg) has been attributed to the Armstrong Cork Company in Volney, NY (Holdrinet et al. 1978). Hooker Chemical and Plastics Corporation manufactured and processed mirex at its Niagara Falls, NY. plant from 1957 - 1976 (Task Force on Mirex [TFM] 1977). Peak discharge to the lake occurred in the 1960\u27s and subsequently declined (Durham and Oliver 1983) as follows; 200 kg/yr from 1960 to 1962, 13.3 kg/yr in 1979 and 8 kg/yr in the period 1979 - 1981 (Warry and Chan 1981, Kuntz and Warry 1983, Halfon 1987). A single discharge (~1961) into the watershed of the Oswego River (Holdrinet et al. 1978) continues to supply mirex to the lake ecosystem (Scrudato and DelPrete 1983). Total mirex loading to Lake Ontario has been estimated at 688 kg (Holdrinet et al. 1978) of which half has been incorporated into the sediments (Pickett and Dossett 1979). Continuing losses from dump sites will augment existing mirex levels in Lake Ontario (Warry and Chan 1981, Scrudato and DelPrete 1982, Kuntz and Warry 1983, Halfon 1987). Mirex bioaccumulates at all trophic levels in aquatic systems (TFM 1977). During the period of intensive monitoring from 1975 to 1981 (TFM 1977, Armstrong and Sloan 1980, Insalaco 1980, Norstrom et &· 1978) revealed detectable levels (usually \u3e 5 ppb) of mirex in fish. The top predators (e.g. salmonines) contained the highest concentrations of mirex which often exceeded the U.S. Food and Drug Administration\u27s action level of 0.1 ppm. This knowledge prompted government agencies on both sides of the U.S.- Canadian border to issue health advisories on eating fish from Lake Ontario. A high correlation between mirex levels and organic content of the sediments exists (Scrudato and DelPrete 1983). Availability of mirex to Lake Ontario biota ranges from 200 - 600 years before the contamination is buried by clean sediments (Halfon 1981, cited in Scrudato and DelPrete 1982). Since mirex is considered one of the most stable compounds ever evaluated (Metcalf et al. 1973), it could recycle within the lake ecosystem for many years via resuspension, uptake and bioaccumulation in the foodweb and sedimentation. Another potential mechanism of recycling, not generally considered, is the spawning migration of mirex laden fish. I report here an estimate of the amount of mirex available for recycling back to the Lake Ontario ecosystem by spawning migrations and on the contamination of resident fish in tributaries

Eighteenmile Creek Watershed: The Location of Sources of Pollution

Eighteenmile Creek is one of the six Areas of Concern (AOC) in New York State (Makarewicz and Lewis 2000). The International Joint Commission (IJC) and the Great Lakes community are working on 42 Areas of Concern in the Great Lakes basin where beneficial uses of a waterbody have been identified as impaired. AOCs include harbors, river mouths, and river segments where Remedial Action Plans (RAPs) have beendeveloped and are being implemented to restore and to protect beneficial uses.Fourteen use-impairment indicators have been applied to define water qualityparameters. Eighteenmile Creek has been polluted by past industrial and municipal discharges, by the disposal of waste, and by the use of pesticides. Fish consumption has been impaired by PCBs and dioxins found in the flesh of various game fish. The health of the benthos has also been impaired by PCBs and metals in creek sediments. At the mouth of Eighteenmile Creek on Lake Ontario, dredging restrictions have been placed on the disposal of dredged material from Olcott Harbor. Dredging is needed to maintain recreational boating and requires land-based confined disposal. Other use-impairment indicators in the Remedial Action Plan (RAP) that require further investigation to assess impairment are: the degradation of fish and wildlife populations, fish tumors, bird or animal deformities or reproductive problems, and the degradation of planktonpopulations (Makarewicz and Lewis 2000)

Stressed Stream Analysis of Deep Run and Gage Gully in the Canandaigua Lake Watershed

Deep Run and Gage Gully subwatersheds are located at Canandaigua Lake’s northeast corner. Both subwatersheds are relatively small in size but a three-year monitoring program has identified them as contributing disproportionately high loads of nutrients and suspended solids (soils) to Canandaigua Lake. Within the entire Canandaigua Lake watershed, Deep Run lost the most phosphorus and nitrate per unit area of watershed to Canandaigua Lake (January 1997 to January 2000), while Gage Gully ranked third. Also, the Deep Run and Gage Gully subwatersheds ranked 3rd and 5th for total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN) loss and 2nd and 3rd for total suspended solids loss per unit area, respectively in the Canandaigua Lake watershed. Because these two subwatersheds were contributing more nutrients and suspended solids than most subwatersheds of Canandaigua Lake, they have the potential to adversely affect the lake. The policy of maintaining the current high water quality of Canandaigua Lake suggested that the sources of pollution in Gage Gully and Deep Run be identified. With this report, we provide evidence suggesting the location and the intensity of pollution sources in the Deep Run and Gage Gully watersheds

The Loss of Nutrients and Materials from Watersheds Draining Into Lake Neatahwanta Oswego County, NY

Here we report on the status of Lake Neatahwanta and losses of materials and nutrients from the various watersheds draining into the lake. Since 1994, Oswego Soil and Water Conservation District has begun several projects, Best Management Practices, to remediate and reduce loss of nutrients in the watershed. These include installation of rock rip-rap below the gaging station and the confluence of the Summerville and Sheldon Creeks, the installation of rock rip-rap in the drainage path near the gaging station on Sheldon Creek and the installation of fencing preventing cows from entering Sheldon Creek upstream from the gaging station at the Jeff Richards Farm. All of these management practices serve to reduce nutrient and material loss from the watershed to Lake Neatahwanta. This report updates the current status of the Lake Neatahwanta watershed, especially the Sheldon Creek watershed

Final Data Report: Sodus Bay Limnology, Lake Chemistry, Phytoplankton and Zooplankton Abundance and Nutrient and Soil Losses from the Watershed, 2004

During the spring, summer and fall of 2004, limnological and sub-watershed data were collected from Sodus Bay. In general, monitoring and analysis were designed to meet the following objectives: document current lake, sediment and nutrient conditions; document stream loading to the lake; characterize the bay\u27s community of phytoplankton and zooplankton to provide a benchmark against which the effectiveness of future management actions can be measured. This program will assist in developing a watershed enhancement plan and provide data for a simulation to determine the need for and likely success of adding alum to decrease phosphorus loss from the anoxic hypolimnion

Nutrient Loading of Streams Entering Lake Neatahwanta Oswego County, NY: A Summary of the Lake Neatahwanta Tributary Monitoring

This study suggests that the highly eutrophic condition of Lake Neatahwanta is in large part due to the very high loadings of nutrients from the surrounding watershed. Specifically, Sheldon Creek was identified as a major contributor of phosphorus and total suspended solids to the lake. The amount of nutrients entering the lake from Sheldon Creek were in excess of those observed in creeks of New York receiving point source loadings from small sewage treatment plants. Improvement of the water quality of Lake Neatahwanta will depend upon the identification and remediation of the major sources of nutrients in the watershed and in the Sheldon Creek watershed in particular

Characterization of Six Watersheds of Wayne County, New York

Wayne County Soil and Water Conservation District has a long history of working to keep soil and nutrients on the land and out of the water. Much of this work has focused on Sodus Bay and Port Bay (Makarewicz and Lewis 1989, 1990; Makarewicz et al. 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994; White et al. 2002). However, little is known about the environmental status of other major creeks in Wayne County away from the coastal area of Lake Ontario. As a result, the Wayne County Water Quality Coordinating Committee (WQCC) recommended a study to evaluate nutrient and soil loss from six watersheds and their creeks [Canandaigua Outlet, Glenmark (Sodus) Creek, Crusoe Creek, Black Brook, Red Creek East, and Red Creek West] not previously assessed. The purpose of the monitoring program was to collect water quality data in order to quantify the concentration and loading of nutrients and suspended sediments transported from these creeks and to evaluate the environmental health of each creek. In addition, the data serve as a database to make informed water quality management decisions, including the development of a watershed management plan, and as a benchmark of discharge and nutrient data to measure the success of future remediation efforts and to begin a data set that would lead to a priority listing of water quality goals.https://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/bookshelf/1001/thumbnail.jp

Generalized Feedback Shift Register Pseudorandom Number Algorithm

The generalized feedback shift register pseudorandom number algorithm has several advantages over all other pseudorandom number generators. These advantages are: (1) it produces multidimensional pseudorandom numbers; (2) it has an arbitrarily long period independent of the word size of the computer on which it is implemented; (3) it is faster than other pseudorandom number generators; (4) the same floating-point pseudorandom number sequence is obtained on any machine, that is, the high order mantissa bits of each pseudorandom number agree on all machines— examples are given for IBM 360, Sperry-Rand-Univac 1108, Control Data 6000, and Hewlett-Packard 2100 series computers; (5) it can be coded in compiler languages (it is portable); (6) the algorithm is easily implemented in microcode and has been programmed for an Interdata computer. © 1973, ACM. All rights reserved

Oak Orchard Creek Watershed : The Location of Sources of Pollution, Annual Loss of Nutrients and Soil to Lake Ontario, and a Test of Effectiveness of Zone Tillage as a Best Management Practice

Oak Orchard Creek watershed : the location of sources of pollution, annual loss of nutrients and soil to Lake Ontario, and a test of effectiveness of zone tillage as a best management practice. May 2009 A report to the Environmental Protection Agency and the Orleans County Soil and Water Conservation District. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 53-56).https://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/bookshelf/1008/thumbnail.jp

Conesus Lake Tributaries

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