Water Quality News

CSI Proposes County-Wide Water Quality Monitoring Program

The Community Science Institute (CSI) has developed a new approach to monitoring water quality in Cayuga Lake and its tributary streams and parks. The CSI approach is based on partnerships with groups of citizen volunteers who collect water samples and transport them to CSI’s certified lab in Lansing for analyses of bacteria, nutrients, sediment and minerals. Raw data are made available to local governments. Results are publicized on this website at:
http://www.communityscience.org/graphsentirewatershed.html.

Beginning in 2008, CSI proposes to monitor water quality throughout Tompkins County, doubling the number of partnerships with citizen volunteers and tripling the number of samples we analyze in our certified lab each year. If funded, our county-wide program will provide continuous tracking of water quality, characterize pollutants and their sources, and foster land use practices that protect water resources. CSI proposes that the annual cost of county-wide water quality monitoring partnerships between CSI and citizen volunteers, estimated at $197,000, be shared among towns, villages, businesses, Cornell University, Ithaca College and Tompkins County. County-wide monitoring partnerships will generate approximately seven times more certified water quality data annually than is currently provided by Cornell University under its Lake Source Cooling permit.

To learn more about CSI’s 2008 county-wide water quality monitoring initiative, you are invited to download the following:

• Power Point presentation to the Tompkins County Water Resources Council on 9/17/07: Download
• Proposal submitted to municipalities at the southern end of Cayuga Lake: Download
• Proposal submitted to municipalities on the southeast side of Cayuga Lake: Download
• Proposal submitted to municipalities on the southwest side of Cayuga Lake: Download

Award Winning Logo Takes Blue Ribbon at the State Fair

Sean Gnau, veteran 4-H₂O Monitor, created the group's logo in 2006. The logo combines the 4-H clover with the structure of a water molecule. Each petal of the clover is made of one oxygen atom and two hydrogen atoms. The four inner hydrogen atoms are labeled with an H that could stand for hydrogen or the 4-H slogan “Head, Heart, Hands, Health.” The logo was rated at the County 4-H Fair as “Excellent” and was selected for the State Fair, where it went on to win a blue ribbon.