Tompkins County is dominated by significant water
bodies (lakes, ponds, rivers, and streams) that are critical to public health
and the economic and environmental well being of this area. Economic and
environmental activities dependent on the integrity of local water bodies and
water supplies include tourism, agriculture, industry, recreation, education
and research, and real estate. Although
wetlands are important components of environmental and economic systems,
federal and state agencies consider wetlands to be distinct from water bodies
for regulatory purposes.
Although water bodies and water supplies are
abundant in Tompkins County, certain activities can adversely affect the
ecological balance within water bodies, impairing their current and potential
economic and environmental functions.
Threats to local water supplies include both point source pollution
(often thought of as a single pipe draining a water body) and nonpoint source
pollution (which is broader in nature and originate from construction,
agriculture, parking lot and street runoff, stormwater runoff, on-site
wastewater systems, and commercial and residential activities).
How are Water
Bodies Regulated?
Federal and state agencies, such as the New York
State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and United States Army
Corps of Engineers (Army Corps), require permits for activities that might
affect or disturb a water body and/or its banks. The stringency of these
permits corresponds with the DEC classification assigned to the water body (see
below) and may range from a general, or unified, permit to a permit tailored to
the specific site and type of work conducted.
Regulated activities might include streambank maintenance, construction,
flood protection and mitigation, dredging, placing fill, and certain agricultural
practices.
Commercial, industrial, and agricultural activities
that discharge to a water body require a State Pollution Discharge Elimination
System (SPDES) permit. This permit is
required for a broad range of activities, including the discharge of
wastewater, stormwater, or chemical and thermal emissions from municipal
treatment plants, industrial plants, utilities, large subdivisions, apartment
complexes, and confined animal feeding operations.
Prior to conducting stream-related work or discharging
wastewater, the Region 7 Office of the DEC or the Army Corps Buffalo District
should be contacted to obtain the necessary approvals and permits. Each of these agencies will automatically
forward permit applications to the other, and each agency will contact the
applicant if additional permits and/or paperwork are needed.
How are Water
Bodies Classified?
The DEC has assigned most water bodies within the
state a letter based on their existing or expected “best use.” The most
pristine waters are assigned a classification of AA; while the most degraded
waters are assigned a classification of D.
Class
|
Best Use |
|
AA |
Drinking (after
chlorination) |
|
A |
Drinking (after chlorination and
filtration) |
|
B |
Bathing |
|
C (T) |
Fishing (trout) |
|
C |
Fishing |
|
D |
Secondary contact recreation |
|
Source: New York State Department of Environmental
Conservation |
|
Additional classifications of “T” or “TS” can be
added if a water body has sufficient amounts of dissolved oxygen to support
trout and trout spawning. Water bodies that are designated as “C (T)” or higher
(i.e.,
“C (TS)”, “B”, or “A”) are collectively referred to
as "protected streams," and are subject to additional regulations.
Periodically, the DEC publishes the Priority
Waterbodies List (PWL), which includes a list of water bodies that do not meet
their designated “best use” classification.
A data sheet that describes the conditions, causes, and sources of water
quality degradation for each of the respective listings is also included in the
PWL. The PWL is used by the DEC and
other agencies as a primary resource for water resources management and
funding.
Many of the water bodies of Tompkins County
(streams, lakes, and ponds) are designated as protected streams due to their
importance as drinking water supplies or fish habitat. See the following map for the location of
protected streams in Tompkins County.
Fish
resources are a key factor in determining water body classifications because
they are the top of the food chain in aquatic habitats. As such, fish can be used as an indicator of
the overall quality of an aquatic ecosystem.
They are highly vulnerable, both directly and indirectly, to changes in
their environment. They can be directly
affected by physical and chemical changes in the water, and indirectly affected
when changes in the environment affect their food sources or the temperature
and turbidity of their habitat.
Cayuga
Lake includes two interrelated assemblages of species, one in the shallow
(littoral) zone and the second in the deep-water zone. In Tompkins County, the shallow zone is
limited to the southern lake basin and a narrow fringe along the lake margins
where light reaches the bottom.
The
shallow zone is home to a warm water fish community dominated by Smallmouth
Bass. Other important predator fish in
the shallow-water community include Largemouth Bass and Northern Pike. These species prey on Yellow Perch,
Pumpkinseeds, Bluegills, Rock Bass, and Minnows. Southern Cayuga Lake also supports a spawning population of White
Suckers.
Lake
Trout, Rainbow Trout, Brown Trout, and Landlocked Salmon are the dominant
predators in the deep-water community.
Of these salmonids, only the Lake Trout is native to Cayuga Lake. Populations of the Brown and Rainbow Trout,
Landlocked Salmon, and Lake Sturgeon are maintained (or, in the case of Rainbow
Trout, supplemented) by stocking. Juvenile salmonids prey on zooplankton. The quantity of zooplankton is considered to
be the limiting factor for the growth and survival of Cayuga Lake’s most
important sport fish, stocked juvenile lake trout. The Alewife is the predominant forage species. Other prey species include Rainbow Smelt,
Troutperch, and Slimy Sculpin.
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
(DEC) has designated several creeks in Tompkins County as protected partially
for the purposes of fish habitat. The
DEC stocks these creeks with various species of fish. Buttermilk Creek, Enfield Creek, Fall Creek, Salmon Creek, Six
Mile Creek, and Virgil Creek are stocked with Brown Trout. Rainbow Trout are stocked in Salmon Creek,
and Landlocked Salmon are stocked in Owasco Inlet.
Information about protected streams in Tompkins
County was copied from the DEC Region 7 Protected Stream maps. For a map of this information, in paper or
digital format, contact the Tompkins County Planning Department.
The
PWL and maps of protected streams can also be viewed at the Tompkins County
Soil and Water Conservation District.
For information about permitting, contact the Region 7 DEC Office or the
Army Corps of Engineers. Additional
information about the PWL can be obtained from the New York State Department of
Environmental Conservation (DEC)’s Division of Water.
Army Corps of Engineers,
Buffalo District (Attention: Regulatory Branch), 1776 Niagara St., Buffalo, NY,
14207-3199, 716‑879‑4330.
New
York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Div. of Water, 625
Broadway, Albany, NY 12233, 518‑402‑8233: http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/regs/ch10.htm
http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dcs/streamprotection/index.html
New York State Department of
Environmental Conservation, Region 7 Office, 615 Erie Blvd. West, Syracuse, NY
13204-2400, 315-426-7403.
Tompkins County Planning
Department, 121 East Court Street, Ithaca, NY 14850, 607‑274‑5560.
Tompkins
County GIS Program, Information Technical Services, 128 East Buffalo Street,
Ithaca, NY 14850, 607-274-5418.
http://www.tompkins-co.org/gis
Tompkins County Soil and Water Conservation
District, 903 Hanshaw Rd, Ithaca, NY 14850, 607‑257‑2340.
What is a Watershed?
A
watershed is the land area that contributes water to a given point, such as a
stream or lake. Contributing sources of
water for a watershed include (but are not limited to) springs, streams, seeps,
ditches, culverts, marshes, wetlands, swamps, and ponds. Eventually, all surface water, some
groundwater resources, and precipitation falling within a watershed, drain into
a single receiving water body such as a stream, river, lake, or wetland. A watershed boundary is usually delineated
by connecting the highest elevation points in the area.
Watersheds
exist at various scales within a hierarchical structure. Gullies and ravines trickle into streams,
which in turn feed into larger streams or rivers. Each of these water bodies (gully, ravine, stream, etc.) drains
its own particular watershed so that larger watersheds are comprised of several
smaller watersheds. For example, the
Virgil Creek watershed flows into the Fall Creek watershed, which is contained
within the larger Cayuga Lake watershed.
While the term watershed is often used interchangeably with “drainage
basin”, the term drainage basin usually refers to a larger watershed such as
the Susquehanna River Drainage Basin or the Lake Ontario Drainage Basin.
Land
use throughout a watershed (or the commercial, industrial, agricultural, and/or
residential activities a land area can support) and the availability of
reliable water sources within a watershed are directly related. That is, the land use in a particular area
is often determined by the availability of reliable water supplies; and the
single most important determinant of the quality, quantity, and availability of
local water resources is land use.
Because of this dynamic relationship between water and land use, the
characteristics of the entire watershed must be considered when addressing
water quality and water quantity issues, including such factors as the amount
of impervious surface and effectiveness of local land management
practices. Additionally, the critical
influence and impact of water on important ecological and economic systems
(such as provision of drinking water, flooding, recreation, and future economic
growth) make watersheds increasingly popular and important management and
planning units.
Although
there are no regulations associated with a watershed, state and federal
agencies look favorably on water-related management and planning processes that
utilize the principles and concepts of watershed management.
The
land area within Tompkins County drains into two major river drainage basins:
the Oswego River basin, which drains north to Lake Ontario, and the Susquehanna
River basin, which drains south to the Chesapeake Bay. Over 383 square miles (245,545 acres) of
Tompkins County drain into the Oswego River basin directly or via Cayuga
Lake. Over 96 square miles (61,459
acres) of Tompkins County drain into the Susquehanna River. Tompkins County is a major contributor to
the Cayuga Lake water system, as the County comprises over half of the total
land area in the Cayuga Lake watershed.
Table 2: Watersheds in Tompkins County
Watershed
(Common Name)
|
Acres
|
Sq. Miles (approx.)
|
Drainage Basin
|
Cascadilla
Creek
|
8,664 |
13.54 |
Oswego |
Catatonk
Creek
|
25,266 |
39.49 |
Susquehanna |
Cayuga
Inlet
|
58,738 |
91.81 |
Oswego |
Cayuta
Creek
|
19,303 |
30.17 |
Susquehanna |
East
Cayuga Lakeshore North |