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Inclusion through Diversity Tompkins County DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING & SUSTAINABILITY 121 East Court Street Ithaca, New York 14850 TOMPKINS COUNTY WATER RESOURCES COUNCIL Monday, March 19, 2018 4:15 PM Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit (TCAT, Inc.), 737 Willow Avenue, Ithaca AGENDA 1. Call to Order – Darby Kiley, Chair 4:15 2. Privilege of the Floor1 - Darby Kiley Chair 4:15 3. Agenda Review/Changes – Darby Kiley, Chair 4:20 4. Approval of Minutes – Darby Kiley, Chair 4:20 • February 26, 2018 5. Report from Central NY Harmful Algal Blooms Regional Summit 4:25 - Roxanna Johnston and Jon Negley 6. Committee Reports (as needed) 5:30 7. Chair & Staff Reports 5:35 8. Announcements – Members 5:40 9. Adjournment 5:45 Upcoming Meeting Dates: April 16 and May 21 Members: If you cannot attend a meeting, please contact Kristin McCarthy at 607-274-5560. 1 Limit of 3 minutes per person for members of the public to address the board TOMPKINS COUNTY WATER RESOURCES COUNCIL 1 Monday, Feb 26, 2018 2 TCAT Main Conference Room 3 Draft Minutes 4 Attendance 5 Member Seat Member Seat Sharon Anderson P Cooperative Extension Frank Proto P At-Large John Andersson P At-Large Marjory Rinaldo- Lee P Environment Fay Benson P Agriculture Linda Wagenet P At-Large Chris Bordlemay Padilla P Water Purveyor Cynthia Brock P Recreation Bill George P Associate Member Liz Cameron P Co. Environmental Health Roxy Johnston E Associate Member George Fowler A At-Large Jose Lozano P Associate Member Barry Goodrich P Watershed Organization Darren MacDougall A Associate Member Ed Gottlieb P At-Large John Mawdsley A Associate Member Michelle Henry P EMC Representative Todd Miller P Associate Member Kristen Hychka E Municipal Government Steve Penningroth E Associate Member Emelia “Mia” Jumbo P At-Large Elaine Quaroni P Associate Member Joan Jurkowich P Co. Planning Dept. Joanne Trutko P Associate Member Darby Kiley P Municipal Government Tom Vawter P Associate Member Lynn Leopold P Municipal Government Kristin McCarthy P County Staff Jon Negley P Soil & Water Cons. District 6 A quorum was present. 7 8 Guests: Tarig Ahmed, Nicole Henry, Francine Jasper, Dooley Kiefer, Fawzia Tarannum 9 10 Call to Order – Chair Darby Kiley called the meeting to order at 4:17 pm. 11 12 Privilege of the Floor – None 13 14 Agenda Review/Changes – None 15 16 Approval of January 2018 Minutes – A motion by Lynn Leopold, seconded by Marjory Rinaldo-Lee, to 17 approve the January 22, 2018, minutes was passed by the members present. Motion carried. 18 Water Issues in India: Their Impacts and Way Forward – Fawzia Tarannum, Cornell University 19 Fawzia Tarannum, a Hubert Humphrey Fellow at Cornell whose expertise lies in water conservation and 20 management, spoke to the Council about the dire water issues facing her home country of India. A PowerPoint of 21 Fawzia’s presentation is available on the Water Resources Council website, and a few highlights of her talk are 22 shared here below: 23 • 54% of India’s population faces high to extremely high water stress 24 • Most rainfall occurs for 15 days during the monsoon season. However, catchment is a huge issue as India 25 lacks the storage to harvest much rainwater. 26 • India is the world’s largest user of groundwater: more than 60% of irrigated agriculture and 85% of 27 drinking water supplies are dependent on groundwater. If condition continues, the situation will be critical 28 in 20 years. 29 • There is talk of putting in new pipelines to draw from areas with more water but that too will create 30 environmental and economic issues (e.g. displaced persons, destruction of wildlife habitat). 31 • Roughly 76 million people are without access to safe drinking water, 56% of the population has no access 32 to sanitation. 33 • Access to clean water could help address several other global issues, including girls and education, as 34 women traditionally take care of obtaining water for their families and often spend hours per day walking 35 to drinking water sites. In addition, girls frequently drop out of school due to a lack of toilet facilities. 36 • The caste system is a huge hindrance to addressing access to clean water in India. 37 • There have been many intra-India and inter-state (India and Pakistan, India and Nepal, etc.) disputes over 38 transboundary water sharing. 39 • Existing regulations are sometimes not implemented, in large part due to rampant corruption in the 40 system. 41 • No long-term sustainability plan is in place to secure the country’s water infrastructure, so donor agencies 42 have been known to abandon projects midway. 43 Committee Reports 44 Water Withdrawals – Cynthia Brock 45 46 The committee will be convening the fourth Monday of the month, at 1 p.m., at the new City of Ithaca Water 47 Treatment plant. They have yet to meet. 48 49 Water Quality Strategy – Joan Jurkowich 50 51 Joan and Frank will start meeting next month. 52 53 Monitoring Partnership – Darby Kiley 54 55 Darby gave the committee report on behalf of chair Roxy Johnston as she was unable to attend the meeting. There 56 is no new word on the TDML. There was a group call, from which the Finger Lakes Water Hub and New York 57 State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) were notably absent. Roxy was invited to 58 participate in the Harmful Algal Blooms stakeholder meeting March 6th to represent the Monitoring Partnership. 59 She and Dave Bouldin will try to put together a list of relevant facts about P stability in the lake and how that 60 might influence management decisions. NYSDEC has reached out to the Soil and Water Conservation Districts 61 for wish lists for projects to reduce Ag nutrient loading. Cornell has submitted a request for an extension on the 62 Lake Source Cooling permit, which expires April 30, 2018. The special conditions related to the monitoring and 63 modeling study would be out, but other parameters would stay the same. Community Science Institute is going to 64 get kits to perform Microcystin analyses to facilitate HAB monitoring locally. There will be five CSLAP points in 65 Cayuga this year. 66 67 Soil Health – Fay Benson 68 69 Members continue to work on their publication, which they envision as a regional soil health educational 70 document linked to the TMDL. Barry thinks in the end they will have one document geared toward the 71 agricultural community and another written for the residential community. 72 73 Emerging Contaminants – Jose Lozano 74 75 No update 76 77 Grants – Jon Negley 78 79 There has been no hydrilla regrowth in Fall Creek and Cayuga Inlet, the areas they’ve previously treated, but 80 since the herbicides don’t stay put there is no point in continuing to treat there. Bob Johnson of Floating 81 Classroom has encountered small hydrilla patches in Cayuga Lake, in the vicinity of Stewart Park and the Cornell 82 Sailing Center, as well as along the western shore. Army Corps has offered to help, and the Hydrilla Task Force is 83 weighing treatment options — e.g. copper, hand-pulling, herbicide. 84 85 Outreach and Education – Lynn Leopold 86 87 The group met earlier today (Feb. 26) and continue to make progress on their map, which they plan to make full 88 size with practical information on amenities featured on the backside. They most likely will not print it on vinyl 89 because of the cost. Joan forwarded them useful information on the Cayuga Lake Blueway Trail project. Todd 90 Miller is working on mockups, and Cynthia will print a copy on the City of Ithaca plotter for committee members 91 to review. 92 93 Workshop on Road Ditching – Sharon Anderson 94 95 Kristen Hychka met with the highway superintendents, who were enthusiastic about the theme for the workshop 96 and offered good feedback. Sharon Anderson touched base with the Local Roads program. The committee still 97 needs to settle on a date and location for the workshop. 98 99 Chair Report – Darby Kiley 100 101 The Cayuga Lake Watershed Intermunicipal Organization (IO) is hosting a watershed summit Thursday, April 102 19th. Targeted to highway superintendents and municipal officials, this daytime event is connected to the Letter 103 of Support the WRC recently signed on behalf of the IO and its partners for a Cornell Engaged Opportunity grant. 104 105 Dooley Kiefer suggested that the Council consider drafting a proclamation in favor of the United Nations World 106 Water Day (March 22nd) for the County Legislature. Darby doubted there was enough time for the members to 107 pull something of quality together. Dooley also reported that the Draft Environmental Impact Statement written 108 public comment period for the proposed expansion of the Hakes C&D Landfill in Painted Post has been extended. 109 Many Steuben County residents have expressed concern over the possible increase in fracking drill cuttings from 110 Pennsylvania being transported to the landfill, which is owned by Casella Waste Systems. 111 112 Staff Report – Joan Jurkowich 113 114 Joan informed everyone that the Planning and Sustainability Department has undergone an office renovation and 115 visitors may now only enter the building on the Dewitt Park side. Also, the Department is hiring for three new 116 staff members and the new tourism director, Nick Helmholdt, started work today (Feb. 26). 117 118 Member Announcements 119 120 • Frank inquired whether PDEQ had given a deadline for the Council’s 2017 Annual Report presentation 121 (they have not) and when to expect Angel Hinickle of the Soil & Water Conservation Board to give her 122 SPDES MS4 Permit Annual Report (the answer was May). 123 • Cynthia reported that the NYSDEC is testing groundwater samples at Nate’s Floral Estates mobile home 124 park, which sits atop the former City of Ithaca Landfill, to determine if the site may be contaminating a 125 drinking water source. Soil sampling will come at a later date. She attended an information session last 126 week presented by NYSDEC Region 7 staff, who explained that the funding used for groundwater 127 sampling at Nate’s is earmarked for testing of other unregistered sites in New York State that may have 128 flown under the NYSDEC’s radar until now. 129 • Lynn asked if anyone had news about the proposed garbage incinerator in the Seneca County Town of 130 Romulus. Cynthia reported that PDEQ chair Anna Kelles would be submitting a resolution opposing the 131 incinerator to the County Legislature. 132 133 Adjournment 134 135 Chair Darby Kiley adjourned the meeting at 5:53 pm. 136 These draft minutes will be formally considered by the WRC at its next monthly meeting, and corrections or 137 notations will be incorporated at that time. Prepared by Kristin McCarthy, Tompkins County Planning and 138 Sustainability Department. Approved by Water Resources Council: DRAFT 139 Summary of personal notes taken at the meeting, not intended to be a complete or unbiased set of notes. Roxy L Johnston HAB Summit, Central NY Region March 5-6 Cayuga, Owasco, Skaneateles Opened by the Commissioners of the DEC, DOH and Ag & Markets. Spoke about the need to work across agencies. FL HUB also introduced. Spoke about the need to work with Citizen groups and use any pre-existing watershed management docs, or those in the works, such as: o Cayuga Lake TMDL (TMDL’s focus on point sources (yes, that’s confusing)) o Owasco Lake 9 Element Plan (9E plans focus on non-point sources) o Cayuga Lake Restoration and Protection Plan (not mentioned but does exist and recently updated) o Owasco Lake may have a watershed management plan? o Skaneateles? 4 Objectives highlighted: • WHY: Reduce and Respond to the growing threat from HABs • WHERE: 12 Waterbodies selected for initial effort. They represent a broad range of diverse watershed and water body conditions. • WHAT: Develop plans for these 12 lakes’ specific set of characteristics. Use these plans as templates across the state. • IMPLEMENTATION: Put plans in action on these 12 lakes within a year. Track responses. Adapt plans. Draft plans out in early May for public comment. HABs – what we know, what we’ve observed: ORGANISMS • Early season blooms diff species and less toxic than late season blooms, will require diff mgnt • Blooms are necessary to the food web – the goal cannot be to stop all blooms • We aren’t tracking vertical movement of organisms well • We aren’t tracking shifts in species well • Hypothesis: cell densities found in Owasco Lake are wind concentrated since those densities can be grown in the lab • Hypothesis: High N = High Toxicity, High P = High cell count • Some cells (of the same species and bloom), have DNA to make toxins while others don’t Summary of personal notes taken at the meeting, not intended to be a complete or unbiased set of notes. Roxy L Johnston • Minute changes in temperature (T) cause changes in toxicity • High T = High #cells, Low toxicity • Low T = Low #cells, High toxicity • Hypothesis: low T reduces the speed of enzymes that ….. I don’t have how that relates to the above info! • Hypothesis: the toxin is used to remove reactive 02 species from inside the cell (radicals that are damaging to the cell). • Known: the toxin isn’t produced to impact us, or to ward off predation, it has another purpose • Glyphosphate (RoundUp) kills some organisms, other organisms eat it • Lakes react differently to the first bloom than they will after having many blooms. • Hypothesis: if takes time for the food web to adjust to attack the bloom toxins/cells and minimize their duration/impact • Cells may spend winter in the deep water sediments and return to active status as the water warms • Cells may also go to bottom (shallower bottom) on a daily basis (at night) – they can exist there without oxygen and in the presence of sulfur – 20M is not too deep. • Cells can move up to 2M/hr using gas vacuoles to find optimum conditions • Some spp prefer to stay in the thermocline and move with it FOOD • Nutrient problem, can be current inputs or legacy inputs • P and N important • N easier to reduce • Offshore waters in Lake Michigan so low in P can’t support fishery, yet blooms can happen • Storms a common source of nutrients • Zebra and Quagga mussels efficient mobilizers of P in legacy sediments • Deeper lakes less likely to recycle nutrients – except quaggas can live deep • Internal seiche can mobilize deep sediment nutrients • Polymictic lakes are seeing more blooms • Low nutrient systems experiencing blooms should be monitored with automatic samplers to be sure to catch intermittent or spotty inputs • Special attention to physics (wind, internal waves, etc) of low nutrient lakes is needed to understand blooms • TP as a measure of P is problematic (the cells are TP, high P likely = low cells, low P could be caused because the cells took up all the P and shifted out of the sampling zone, etc.) • Macrophytes can mobilize P from sediments • Use of RoundUp may increase movement of P off the watershed into the water body CLIMATE CHANGE • Alkalinity and pH may be imp measures for impacts of CO2 and bicarbonate and how that relates to HAB growth • There is a time lag between nutrient inputs and blooms • NY blooms are being documented nearly year round, though warmer weather is ideal Summary of personal notes taken at the meeting, not intended to be a complete or unbiased set of notes. Roxy L Johnston • Storms more frequent and severe now • ‘Extreme’ weather is a perfect scenario for HABs AGRICULTURE • Ag and Markets mentioned a couple times they have increased the amount of match for the AEM program and also highlighted a program targeting climate change as ways to help in the HAB battle. • We do not have maps of tiled acres and little idea of the impact of runoff • Soil testing for fertilizer application should be done by all – recommended sampling for every 2 acres instead of a few grabs per field • Setbacks or buffer widths will need to increase as rain intensity increases • Standards for BMPs and on-farm practices need updated because land use and weather are changing • Increasing use of cover crops • Tennessee used ag ext economists to bring farmers on board – demonstrated cost savings • Maryland pays $75/acre for cover crop • If pay backs for conservation measures are far below expected net from crops on those same acres, farmers are not incentivized to implement the conservation measures • Skaneateles (and NYC I suspect) watersheds have good participation from Ag for manure management, fertilizer reduction and erosion control – because they provide drinking water to large metro areas that do not have filtration plants. There is money and staff support. All watersheds need this kind of support to better implement Ag programs. • Great deal of dissatisfaction expressed by attendees with Ag focus on successes in model watershed instead of thinking of areas where improvement could occur NON-AGRICULTURAL INPUTS • Standards for BMPs and other highway, ditching, development, lawn maintenance and golf course practices need updated because land use and weather are changing • Septics – Lake George provides 50% match for upgrades • Stormwater – Lake George offers a LID certification. It’s LEED certification for towns that meet a ‘gold’ standard for stormwater reduction • Road salt – disrupts food wed, may favor blooms • Some alternative products are more toxic than road salt, not scientifically vetted DRINKING WATER • Sample source monthly for precursors (T, PPT, P, N), more when conditions are right for a bloom • Reduce inputs to watershed • Watershed Rules & Regulations should help but they are woefully outdated and not effective. State is considering updating them. • Removal of toxins is not easy and can be expensive, Prevention is the key • Copper sulfate, chlorine and KMnO4 can be used to destroy the cells and/or toxins • Alum or ferric can be used to settle sediments in a reservoir • Mixing, aerating or dredging a reservoir can also help Summary of personal notes taken at the meeting, not intended to be a complete or unbiased set of notes. Roxy L Johnston • Traditional treatment (coagulation, settling, filtration) will not remove toxins • Membranes can remove, but only the NF and RO membranes (not what Ithaca or most plants use) • GAC and PAC can remove some toxins – expensive and difficult to handle • Develop a source water protection plan that includes HABs and precursors • Develop a monitoring plan that includes alert levels and actions • Consider algal toxin control in any source, treatment or distribution system change. • Develop short term and long term plans to reduce HAB risk • LAB capacity to process samples is a problem • Available analytical methods are weak – especially the quick, cheap field test • Use the field test for screening only, always send another sample in for more detailed analysis • DOH recommendation for HAB toxin exposure is 1000x below the level of documented human negative impacts. Meant to give utility time to respond to an issue. Notice to public to not drink. Public will see it as a health risk. • WTP’s have increased chlorine and knowingly exceeded disinfection by-product (DBP) limits to reduce HAB toxins – with DOH approval. HAB toxins are an immediate threat, DBP’s are not. IMPLEMENTATION • Monitoring necessary to determine correlation and track changes over time • Experimentation necessary to determine causation and guide management approaches • Riparian buffers are very effective but not well funded • State looking at more funding for land acquisition (through land trusts, etc.) and buffer and wetland creation • Simply increasing staff and funding to DOH, DEC and county SWCD would allow them to implement good practices already in their mission statements. Not targeted to particular water bodies but would be good state wide. • Increase funding to USGS gaging stations • Dredged spoils need to be removed from the watershed or they will be a source of the toxin • Harvested plant material needs to be removed for the same reason • Automatic samplers and remote sensors and probes talked about a lot for effective monitoring • Long term monitoring data needed • Long term program commitment needed • Improvements will not be evident quickly (probably) because sources are mostly non-point and cannot be dramatically reduced CAYUGA LAKE • Reality check – UFI says reducing N by 70% will NOT have an impact on HABs CAYUGA, OWASCO AND SKANEATELES LAKES • Vast majority of dialogue did not focus on the unique characteristics of these 3 lakes, instead addressed state level issues that could be improved