In 2019, Genesee RiverWatch developed its first ever Genesee River Basin Report Card.
This report grades the Genesee River and its major tributaries on water quality and usability. Learn about the environmental challenges facing the river basin, and actions we can all take to preserve and protect this vital resource.
What's a Watershed?
A watershed is any area of land that channels all precipitation to streams or rivers, which eventually drain to a common outlet, such as a bay, ocean, or other body of water.
The watershed consists of the land, lakes, streams, reservoirs, and wetlands as well as all the underlying groundwater. Throughout this report, we’ll use “basin” and “watershed” interchangeably.
The Genesee River Watershed is about
0
square miles
and includes portions of Genesee, Livingston, Wyoming, Monroe, Allegany, Steuben, Ontario, Orleans, and Cattaraugus counties in New York, and Potter County in Pennsylvania. The river ends at the port of the City of Rochester, where it flows into Lake Ontario.
How big are we talking?
The basin is about the size of West Virginia.
The watershed contains 5,048 miles of freshwater rivers and streams. That’s about the distance from San Diego to Orlando… and back.
More than half of the land in the watershed is currently used for agriculture.
The southern portions are dominated by forests, while the central and northern portions have extensive agricultural development, primarily in support of dairy, fruit, and vegetable farming.
Benefits
The Genesee River Basin has yielded enormous benefits to its residents, including a variety of land and water uses such as navigation, recreation, energy production, and wildlife habitat. It also provides fresh water for drinking, irrigation, industrial use, and sanitation.
Pollution
There are portions of the Genesee River watershed that are environmentally in good health.
But major portions are not.
Land-based activities such as development, water treatment discharges, and agricultural activities can increase nutrients, soil loss, and toxicants beyond their natural levels.
There are a number of known and potential water pollutants in the watershed.
We’ll focus on two—total phosphorus and suspended solids, because it is well documented that the water quality of the Genesee River and its tributaries is compromised by these pollutants.
Phosphorus is essential to aquatic ecosystems.
It supports the growth of algae and aquatic plants, which in turn provide food and shelter for a wide range of aquatic life.
But when there is too much of it algae can grow too fast, which can decrease – or even eliminate – the oxygen that aquatic life needs to survive.
Of course, this is not good for the plants and creatures that live in that water. It can also be dangerous for humans, because some algae blooms produce elevated levels of toxins and bacteria growth that can make people sick if they come into contact with or consume the water, or anything that lives there (like fish or shellfish.)
Phosphorus is essential to aquatic ecosystems.
It supports the growth of algae and aquatic plants, which in turn provide food and shelter for a wide range of aquatic life.
But when there is too much of it algae can grow too fast, which can decrease – or even eliminate – the oxygen that aquatic life needs to survive.
Of course, this is not good for the plants and creatures that live in that water. It can also be dangerous for humans, because some algae blooms produce elevated levels of toxins and bacteria growth that can make people sick if they come into contact with or consume the water, or anything that lives there (like fish or shellfish.)
More than 30 bodies of water in the basin (rivers, streams, creeks, ponds, and lakes) are listed as impaired by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation because of high levels of phosphorus and other contaminants.
Agricultural activities like crop growth and dairy farming, food processing plants, municipal and industrial wastewater treatment plants, and septic systems are major contributors.
Suspended solids can also have a negative impact on aquatic life, recreation, and drinking water. The more solids present in the water, the less clear the water will be.
Suspended solids include anything drifting or floating in the water that cause it to look milky or muddy. Most suspended solids are made up of inorganic materials, like sediment and silt, but could also include organic materials like algae or decomposing organisms.
So, in which parts of the river basin are these environmental challenges the most severe?
Grades
The Genesee River Basin Report Card assigned grades for each subwatershed based on the average of Water Quality and Intended Use grades. The information used to develop the report card is based on publicly available material, primarily:
1
An intensive, multi-year water quality sampling and analysis program conducted by SUNY Brockport scientists.
2
Periodic intended use assessments by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) that evaluate whether water quality supports recreation, water supply, aquatic life, and other appropriate uses.
Grades Overview
A
Water quality indicators are at or below threshold values and/or the stream’s water quality supports its intended use and is well known.
B
Water quality indicators are only slightly above threshold values and/or the stream’s water quality supports most of its intended uses, and the condition of most of its segments is known.
C
Water quality indicators are significantly above threshold values and/or the stream’s water quality does not support most of its intended uses, or the condition of many stream segments is unknown.
D
Water quality indicators are more significantly above threshold values and/or the stream’s water quality does not support most of the intended uses, or the condition of many stream segments is unknown.
The Genesee River Basin Overall Grade:
C
Full Report Card
| Water Quality | Intended Use | Average | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Total Phosphorus |
Suspended Solids |
Supports Use |
Well Known |
Total |
|
Genesee River Basin |
C |
D |
C |
C |
C |
|
Black Creek |
C |
A |
D |
A |
B |
|
Oatka Creek |
B |
A |
C |
B |
B |
|
Honeoye Creek |
B |
B |
D |
C |
C |
|
Conesus Creek |
D |
A |
C |
C |
C |
|
Canaseraga Creek |
C |
C |
D |
D |
D |
|
Upper Basin |
B |
C |
C |
C |
C |
What You Can Do
While much is being done, there are additional actions that can be taken to reduce excess phosphorus and sediment in the Genesee River Basin.
From citizens to business owners to government, we all have a critical role to play.
Here are a few things you can do to help.
Become an Advocate
Hold your Soil and Water Conservation District, municipality, and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation accountable for the role they must play in protecting the Genesee River Basin.
Current overall Genesee River Basin grade: C
Learn how your actions can positively (or negatively) affect the health of your watershed.
Everything from how you dispose of household chemicals, to how you take care of your lawn, to how well you maintain your septic system can have a direct impact on your watershed.
You can find easy, low-cost tips (including DIY projects for the whole family) at H2Ohero.org.
Get involved with your watershed’s committee, or form one.
Stakeholder groups define and implement a wide variety of projects that reduce the amount of nutrients and sediment discharged to river and streams. A few examples – the establishment and protection of adequately sized vegetated buffers along stream corridors, and stream bank restoration projects.
A broad coalition could help us get to a B grade.
Farmers can adopt agricultural best practices whenever possible.
Many farms participate in the voluntary Agricultural Environmental Management (AEM) program facilitated by County Soil & Water Conservation Districts. This national program provides farmers with technical assistance to identify improvement opportunities and funding to implement the best practices identified.
Not a farmer? Encourage more farmers to adopt Agricultural Environmental Management (AEM) programs, and assist farmers with implementation of best practices.
Local municipalities have a huge role to play.
They can adopt and enforce septic system and erosion/sediment control ordinances, adopt green infrastructure when possible, and reduce combined sewer overflows.
Citizens must take an active role in ensuring actions taken by their local government have the health and environmental interests of their community in mind.
It will take all of us, working together, to achieve an A grade.
The NYSDEC can take a number of actions to enforce existing regulations, and enact new ones, to protect the Genesee River basin.
1
One example is enforcing Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) and point-source permits.
2
Another is formally adopting a water quality standard for total phosphorus in moving water, and require all 61 NYSDEC-permitted municipal and industrial wastewater treatment plants in the Genesee River basin to monitor their effluent for total phosphorus (and enact discharge limits).
New Yorkers can contact the NYSDEC to advocate for more rigorous regulation enforcement here.
Resources
700 West Metro Park
Rochester, New York 14623
Contact: George Thomas, gthomas@ceinfo.org
This Report Card is published by Genesee RiverWatch, whose mission is to improve the water quality of the Genesee River and its tributaries in order to create environmental, recreational, and economic assets for its communities. Genesee RiverWatch also connects people to the river, encouraging them to explore, experience, and celebrate the Genesee.
Educating the residents of Monroe County, NY on the enormous impact they have on local water quality including Lake Ontario and the Genesee River.
This site was designed by TGW Studio.
