Rebecca Schneider, Sol Lisboa, Lars Rudstam, Todd Walter, Kristen Holeck, Chris Hotaling
Given concerns about bluegreen blooms and a return to more eutrophic conditions, the Central New York Planning Board is looking at funding a project to develop the nine-point plan for Oneida Lake and its watershed. As part of that project, we will investigate the phosphorus budget in Oneida Lake through measurements of P input from streams and groundwater. We are interested in the relative contribution of different P sources and how they may change with altered climates and watersheds. Models will be developed for both the lake and the watershed, and calibrated with field measurements. Starting in summer 2017, we have been working with developing and testing techniques to efficiently quantify groundwater flow and nutrient input in the lake shore. For spring 2020 we plan to analyze collected data (summer of 2017, 2018, and 2019) and to design new monitoring schedules aiming to sample a larger portion of the lake. Additionally, we are analyzing, using GIS and spatial analysis techniques, data from a long-term database of water quality of the main surface tributaries for the lake.