Tag Archives: lake Ontario

by

Lake Ontario water colours: What the lake’s hue can tell you — Lake Ontario Waterkeeper

http://www.waterkeeper.ca/blog/2016/9/2/lake-ontario-water-colours-what-the-lakes-hue-can-tell-you

“Blue is water’s signature colour. When light shines on a body of water all the wavelengths of light in the light spectrum are absorbed with the exception of the blues, indigos, and violets. Sometimes green light doesn’t get absorbed either. These unabsorbed colours are what we see. Clouds, sunshine, and shadows do beautiful things to the colour of water, making it appear in different shades of blues, purples, blacks, greys, and greens.”

Gabrielle Parent-Doliner

Read on….fascinating

by

WXXI News | The Public Media news source for Rochester, NY and the Finger Lakes

The International Joint Commission oversees the management of Lake Ontario. For fifty years, a hydro-electric dam has regulated the naturally fluctuating shoreline. Frank Bevacqua of the IJC says scientific advancements show that the existing plan is harmful to the environment.

“The remaining 64,000 acres of coastal wetlands along Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River have been degraded.”

In response, the IJC has put forth Plan 2014

image

http://m.wxxinews.org/?utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F#mobile/23981

Posted from WordPress for Android

by

Legislators bash IJC plan, say measure will harm county – The Palladium-Times : Front Page Continued

From Palladium:

“County legislators passed a resolution Thursday urging the U.S. Congress to reject a recent proposal that some officials worry could increase erosion and cause property damage along the shores of Lake Ontario.”

Continue reading →

by

winner & losers on low water levels

In response to the Another Voice column by Jim Howe of the Nature Conservancy, impact of

Excerpt form Buffalo News article by Dan Barletta.

Another round of discussion on impact of low water levels on Lake Ontario.

”   Further in his essay, Howe cites dollar values that seem to say that this aberrant plan would provide millions of dollars in benefits. What he fails to state is that the low water periods would be devastating to the $94 million-per-year sports fishing industry along the south shore, or that the estimates for property damage along this shore have been shown to be two-to-three times greater than the plan states.

Most private property damage is undervalued and damage to public lands and infrastructure is not even evaluated. Water intakes, sewer systems, roads, bridges, power lines and other sensitive infrastructure might be at risk from drastic man-made level changes on both the high and low side.

An example of the failure of the commission to properly evaluate the potential economic losses is in the Town of Somerset. This town has more than $400 million in public assets that were not included in the damage estimates in the original study by the IJC.

This plan was created behind closed doors with the environmental interests and no other interest allowed in. We commend the elected representatives of the province of Quebec for standing up to the IJC and stating that they would not accept any more damage than what occurs to their part of the system under the current plan. But we are dismayed that New York State representatives would allow this damage to occur to their citizens. The IJC needs to return to the drawing board and come back with a more represented plan.

Dan Barletta is Monroe County director of the Lake Ontario Riparian Alliance. He was a member of the International Joint Commission’s Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence River Study.”

By Dan Barletta

http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130806/OPINION/130809561/1074

by

Many Along Lakeshore Watching Water Levels Closely – Rochester, News, Weather, Sports, and Events – 13WHAM.com

Reporting from Greece, NY:

“If we have a hot summer, it’s going to be terrible,” said Smith of Hamlin.

Last summer the International Joint Commission held a series of public meetings to gain input for a yet to be released lake flow management plan.

Lake Ontario’s level is above its level of one month ago, but below its mark of a year ago, according to data published by the IJC.

“Low water is a good thing it actually keeps the wetlands diverse, keeps the mosaics of different plants that filter our water and cleanse our water,” said Jim Howe of the Nature Conservancy

There are two items that will be unveiled by the IJC in the near future. First, an Adaptive Management Plan for the entire Great Lakes basin which is expected by the end of May. Second, the IJC continues to deliberate on its Lake Ontario and St. Lawrence River regulation plan, according to IJC spokesman Frank Bevaqua.

Another set of public meetings is expected, though dates have yet to be announced.

http://www.13wham.com/news/local/story/Lakeshore-Watching-Water-Levels-Closely/u-P98fJqy0yq3t1Fof20-A.cspx

by

Environmental groups push bi-national commission to advance lake levels plan | News Blog

The coalition pushing binational commission, IJC, to recommend Bv7 plan to control lake levels on Great Lakes esp. Lake Ontario and The St Lawrence Seaway includes Citizens Campaign for the Environment, the Nature Conservancy, Audubon New York, and Save the River. Lake Ontario shoreline property owners oppose the plan. http://m.rochestercitynewspaper.com/rochester/blogs/Post?basename=environmental-groups-push-bi-national-commission-to-advance-lake-levels-plan&day=16&id=NewsBlog&month=04&year=2013

by

Watertown Daily Times | Environmentalists urge Gov. Cuomo to support IJC’s Bv7 water management proposal

This is an excerpt from Watertown Daily. With so many stakeholders supporting Plan Bv7, it may do better yo replace old management plan. Read on: “In a joint letter to Gov. Cuomo, four conservation groups — Save the River, Clayton; the Nature Conservancy; Audubon New York, and Citizens Campaign for the Environment — asked the governor to support Plan Bv7, a water regulation proposal by the International Joint Commission that could replace the existing half-century-old management plan. “Expressions of support for Plan Bv7 from Lake Ontario and St. Lawrence River community have more than quadrupled since July 2012,” they said. “Much of the new support for Plan Bv7 came from the south shore of Lake Ontario.” So far, the groups gathered a total of 9,170 letters and petition signatures supporting Bv7 — an additional 7,000 “expressions” since July. The lake’s south shore has been where most of the complaints have been coming from because of the increased the risk of erosion under Bv7. At a panel discussion on the topic Saturday in Clayton, Sodus Point Mayor Christopher Tertinek argued that higher water levels allowed under Bv7 would flood waterfront properties and cause the village’s sewer infrastructure to fail. In an economic impact study, IJC estimated an additional $3 million per year in shore protection cost to coastal residents under the new management plan. But advocates argue that Bv7 is a balanced plan that finally takes into consideration environmental and recreational boating interests neglected under the original management plan. “Plan Bv7 will replace over 50 years of water level management that has significantly altered the Lake and River’s natural processes and dramatically reduced habitat diversity,” environmental advocates said in their letter to Gov. Cuomo. “Plan Bv7 will achieve these benefits through a return to more natural flows. It will provide a longer recreational boating season by avoiding the rapid draw down of the Lake and River in the fall, increase warm-water recreational fishing opportunities, increase hydropower production and lead to conditions that rebuild beaches naturally, all while continuing to provide significant protection to shoreline property owners.” http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20130416/NEWS03/704169884

by

IJC releases proposed Adaptive Management Plan & webinar schedule | Save Our Sodus

Adaptive Management task force have come to conclusions on how to manage the Great Lakes as a resource in lieu of atmospheric changes we are experiencing today and their effects on us. ‘Instead of fighting nature, we need to figure out better ways to comfortably live alongside its changes.’ As lake levels will change our ability to adapt to these changes is a topic of debate – we can adapt to changes or struggle to maintain the status quo through engineering. The following is an excerpt from SODUS on the upcoming webinar focus on these changes in the Great Lakes:

The bi-national Adaptive Management Plan responds to changing climate and the limited ability to alter lake levels through regulation of flows from Lake Superior and Lake Ontario. “Our climate is changing and increases in temperature and alterations in patterns of precipitation are likely to affect water levels in the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River,” says U.S. co-chair of the Adaptive Management Task Team, Debbie Lee. “There is strong evidence that in the future we will experience extreme water levels – both high and low – that are outside the historical range seen over the past century. Indeed, we have seen record low water levels this past January on Lakes Michigan and Huron.”
The most recent IJC studies on lake levels – the International Upper Great Lakes Study and the Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence River Study – both concluded that adaptive management is the best way to address the uncertainties associated with climate change and the potential impacts from extreme water levels. Adaptive management uses the information obtained from long-term monitoring and modelling to support the evaluation of plans, policies and practices and adjust them as knowledge improves or as conditions change. “The proposed Adaptive Management Plan is based on working collaboratively with Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River partners to gather and share critical information over time, assess the information with state-of-the art tools, develop adaptation strategies, measure our collective success in managing the impacts of extreme water levels and adapt accordingly”, explains Canadian co-chair, Wendy Leger. “We believe it is a cost-efficient and effective way to support decision-making aimed at reducing the risk to communities, the economy and the environment from extreme water levels.”
The Adaptive Management Task Team is seeking input from the public on the draft Adaptive Management Plan between March 15 and April 15, 2013. Following public comment, the Task Team will revise the Plan and forward it to the IJC for its consideration.

http://www.saveoursodus.com/2013/03/18/ijc-releases-proposed-adaptive-management-plan-webinar-schedule/

by

Watertown Daily Times | Canadian senator prods IJC to approve Bv7 water plan

Blurb on legislation to balance shoreline resident interests with tourist operators and shipping: Canadian Sen. Robert W. Runciman is urging the International Joint Commission to “quit stalling” and adopt the proposed Plan Bv7 water management plan. In a news release, Mr. Runciman said the current approach cuts short the boating season by almost a third and threatens wetlands in the Thousand Islands. The senator said Plan Bv7 is the best approach he’s seen to balance the interests of shoreline residents along Lake Ontario, tourist operators on the upper St. Lawrence River, Seaway shipping companies, the Montreal harbor and the environmental movement. http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20130306/NEWS03/703069888