Section 319
NDNPDINT SOURCE PROGRAM SUGKSS STPRY
Agricultural Environmental Management Projects Reduce Phosphorus in Lake
Waterbodv Imoroved Algal blooms and rooted vegetation impaired recreational
uses of New York's Oneida Lake, causing New York to add
the lake to its Clean Water Act section 303(d) list in 1998. Excess nutrients, specifically
phosphorus, from agricultural and urban/suburban runoff contributed to the growth of algal
blooms in the lake. Implementing best management practices (BMPs) such as barnyard run-
off management systems, silage leachate control systems, manure storage systems, and
nutrient and sediment control systems successfully reduced phosphorus loads to Oneida
Lake. New York State Department of Environmental Conservation's (DEC) has proposed
Oneida Lake for delisting in 2008 because data show steady declines in nutrient enrich-
ment (phosphorus levels) and indicate that the lake supports designated uses related to
nutrient enrichment.
Problem
Oneida Lake, while not recognized as one of the
Finger Lakes, is sometimes referred to as the
"Thumb of the Finger Lakes." It is the largest lake
entirely within New York State. It encompasses
51,000 acres and drains more than 2,300 miles
of streams. The Oneida Lake watershed is in the
Oswego-Seneca-Oneida Rivers Drainage Basin,
which drains to Lake Ontario (Figure 1). It also
serves as one of the links in the Erie Canal. The
Oneida Lake watershed (approximately 1,364
square miles) contains portions of six counties, 69
municipalities and has a population of 262,000. The
lake is approximately 21 miles long, 5 miles wide
and 22 feet deep.
DEC regional fisheries staff indicated that while
historically Oneida Lake has been green with con-
siderable rooted aquatics and algae, anthropogenic
activities worsened the conditions in some areas.
DEC identified excess phosphorus as the cause of
the unusually high number of algal blooms, which
impaired public bathing and other recreational uses
and also led to reduced dissolved oxygen levels
resulting in impacts to aquatic life. DEC placed
Oneida Lake on the state's 1998 303(d) list of
impaired waters for violating the state's narrative
standard for phosphorus, which states that phos-
phorus may not be present in "amounts that will
result in growths of algae, weeds and slimes that
will impair the waters for their best usages."
Source: New York State
Lands Interactive Mapping Tool—
www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/45415.html
Figure 1. Oneida Lake is located northeast of New York's
Finger Lakes and southeast of Lake Ontario.
Two major reports by the Central New York Regional
Planning and Development Board documented
the status of Oneida Lake and relevant manage-
ment strategies—Oneida Lake: State of the Lake
and Watershed Report (2003) and A Management
Strategy for Oneida Lake and its Watershed (2004).
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Project Highlights
Funds from the New York State Agricultural
Nonpoint Source Abatement and Control Program
(ANSCAP), a grant program that serves as a vital
component of the state's Agricultural Environmental
Management program, were used to implement
a series of agricultural BMPs designed to reduce
nutrient and sediment loads to the Oneida Lake
watershed. These include soil conservation practic-
es (reduced tillage, buffer strips, fencing, and such),
silage leachate control systems (5), manure storage
systems (3), barnyard runoff management and other
nutrient and sediment control systems (3), access
road improvements (2), constructed wetland (1),
protected outlet (1), and detention basins (2).
The Oneida Lake Watershed Agricultural Advisory
Committee, established in 2002, encourages farm-
ers' participation in the Oneida Lake Watershed
Management Program. Supporting this effort,
ANSCAP has funded a continuing series of BMP
projects to reduce nutrient, sediment and pathogen
loads to the watershed.
Results
DEC has proposed Oneida Lake for removal from
the 2008 303(d) list because data show a steady
decline in phosphorus levels over the past 20 years.
Oneida Lake now meets the state's narrative stan-
dard for nutrients and supports its designated uses
related to nutrient enrichment. The Management
Strategy for Oneida Lake and its Watershed
(2004) with the associated State of the Lake and
its Watershed Report, indicate that current phos-
phorus levels (20-30 milligrams per liter [mg/L])
are more than 50 percent less than they were in
the 1970s (40-60 mg/L). The lower phosphorus
levels in the lake have reduced the number of algal
blooms and the amount of rooted aquatic vegeta-
tion, consequently improving aquatic life habitat
and restoring the recreational uses of the lake.
Although a range of point and nonpoint source
controls were implemented, agricultural land man-
agement improvements are considered to be the
primary reason for achieving the load reductions.
Partners and Funding
State agency partnerships among the Departments
of Agriculture and Markets and Environmental
Conservation and the New York Soil and Water
Conservation Committee supported the goals and
objectives of the Oneida Lake Watershed Task
Force with ANSCAP grant funding to implement
high-priority agricultural practices. ANSCAP provid-
ed funding through a series of rounds of requests
for proposals. Many of the BMP projects highlight-
ed in this success story are those from ANSCAP
Round 9 (2002), which provided $249,150 in cost
share funds through the Environmental Protection
Fund (EPF) to the Madison County Soil and Water
Conservation District for work on nine high-prior-
ity dairy farms in the Oneida Lake watershed.
Landowners and sponsors contributed an additional
$147,724. ANSCAP and EPF funds are often used to
match section 319-funded grant projects.
ANSCAP has provided a total of $2,404,922 in all
rounds of funding for other agricultural practices in
the Oneida Lake watershed to reduce the nutrient
and sediment loads to Oneida Lake and its tributar-
ies. With local landowner matches, the total funding
for all agricultural BMP projects in the Oneida Lake
watershed is $3,382,712. ANSCAP continues to
support BMP projects that contribute to phospho-
rus load reductions in the Oneida Lake watershed.
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PR
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Water
Washington, DC
EPA841-F-08-0010
September 2008
For additional information contact:
Seth Ausubel
Chief, New York Watershed Management Section
212-637-3852
Ausubel.Seth@epa.gov
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