Saturday, October 29, 2016

OWLA meeting on Wednesday 11/2

Owasco Watershed Lake Association Meeting        
Wednesday November 2, 2016 
Springside Inn at 7:00 PM
Draft Agenda
Welcome Members and Guests

Call to Order:

I.        Roll Call Sheet
II.      Approval of October, 2016 Minutes - Gilda Brower
III.    Financial Report - Jeff Trescot
IV      President's Report

V.    Committee Reports

A. OWLA's Testing for 2016 - Ken Kudla
B. Ad Hoc Notification Group Update - Peter Rogers
C. Fox Toyota Watershed Projects - Rick Nelson
           
VI.      Old Business

            D.  The Sluiceway at Emerson Park
            E.  Communications - Carolyn Hiza
            F.  Membership - Rosemarie Romano
G. CAFO Permit Update - Dana Hall

VII.    New Business
 
8:30 PM Adjourn



We value your opinions and ideas regarding OWLA and encourage you to participate in OWLA meetings.

Thursday, October 20, 2016

Discuss Owasco Water Quality on TV


On Tuesday, October 18th the guests on "Inside Government with Guy Cosentino" will be the City of Auburn's Director of Municipal Utilities, Seth Jensen and the Owasco Watershed Lake Association's current President, Robert Brower and immediate past president, James Beckwith who will discuss the recent issue of Blue Algae in Owasco Lake and its impact on the Lake and local drinking water supplies.

The show airs at 7 PM on Time Warner 12 on Tuesday and at 8 PM on Thursday the 20th and will replay on Time Warner's 12 & 98 and FIOS Verizon Channel 31 on Saturday October 22nd and Sunday October 23rd at 5:00 PM from the Auburn Regional Media Access (ARMA).

Saturday, October 8, 2016

Drinking water tests improving!


The Auburn citizen is reporting today that the latest results from Thursday, Oct. 6 samples of water from the town of Owasco and city of Auburn's treatment plant showed no detectable levels of blue-green algae toxins. This is very good news after several days of rising levels of toxins found in testing.

Read more at:
http://auburnpub.com/news/local/auburn-owasco-thursday-water-samples-detect-no-algal-toxins/article_287fd88e-45e4-5881-b94e-5f8074b3e49b.html

Thursday, October 6, 2016

Detectable Toxin levels continue......

Cayuga County Health Department is reporting that treated drinking water for the town of Owasco and the city of Auburn showed detectable levels of blue-green algae toxins in the latest round of tests — Owasco seeing the highest levels to date.

From AuburnPub.com:
"Owasco water tests show highest algae toxins yet, Auburn levels still detectable" Link:
http://auburnpub.com/news/local/owasco-water-tests-show-highest-algae-toxins-yet-auburn-levels/article_ef90bb02-e335-505e-868e-fd39830b3f3b.html#utm_source=auburnpub.com&utm_campaign=%2Femail-updates%2Feedition%2F&utm_medium=email&utm_content=A7ABE91B4AB87725FEC03F56B65C6C326743857B




Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Algae Bloom update


Good Morning Everyone, 10/3/2016

Last week, we had very few blooms of significant size. Unfortunately, the cyanobacteria cells were still present in the water column, but the weather conditions were not ideal for a bloom to develop at the surface. With the ability for the bacteria to migrate up and down in the water column, the toxin producing organism made their way into water intakes for the City of Auburn and the Town of Owasco and eventually into the treated drinking water. Luckily, the toxins are at low enough levels that they are not a major health concern to children, pregnant women, or adult; but nevertheless, it is still a major concern for the water quality of Owasco Lake. The most recent results for the State Health Department have shown no detectable toxins in the drinking water for the City of Auburn and the Town of Owasco. We will continue to monitor the situation along with the County Health Department.

Today marks the last day of the year for weekly surveillance of your zone.
I want to thank everyone for their hard work and dedication to help us better understand the frequency and severity of blooms in Owasco Lake. In the next few weeks/months, the inspection Program, OWLA, Health Department, and the DEC will meet to discuss the next step and hopefully come up with a plan to help minimize the impact Cyanobacteria on Owasco Lake. I think we exceeded our expectations for the first installment of the “Owasco Lake HAB Program” and it was not possible without the help of our 24 zone volunteers. 

As always, if you have any questions or would like to report a water quality concern, please feel free to contact me at anytime.

Sincerely,

Tim Schneider

Watershed Inspector
Owasco Lake Watershed Inspection Program
7413 County House Road
Auburn, NY 13021
Violations, & Technical Assistance:
ph(o): 315.252.4171 x-120

ph(c): 315.237.2066