Seneca Lake Research

As an advocate for water quality, SLPWA strives to increase understanding and awareness of water-related issues for the entire watershed and serves as a grassroots community clearinghouse for research, information and education about the lake and its tributaries.  SLPWA enables citizens throughout the Seneca Lake watershed to jointly manage their lake.  SLPWA's mission is to study and to inform its membership and the public about ways to conserve, improve and protect the water resources and the environmental health of Seneca Lake and its watershed.  SLPWA also strives to preserve and enhance the varied economic landscape within the watershed by promoting improvements to technology and patterns of development that do not have an adverse impact on our environment.  To meet these goals, SLPWA works closely with the Finger Lakes Institute (FLI), a research center dedicated to the preservation and protection of the Finger Lakes.  SLPWA is also a member of Seneca Lake Area Partners in Five Counties (SLAP-5) as well as the newly formed nine county organization, Finger Lakes Regional Watershed Alliance (FLRWA).

Long term studies on Seneca Lake require analytical characterization of the lake water both as a baseline and on a continuing basis over a period of time.  The decision on what data to obtain is important so that changes in the lake composition can provide "early warning" markers of environmental changes.  Additionally, mapping such analytical information can provide insight as to sources of any changes that are taking place.  Working closely with FLI, SLPWA applies for grants that support such analytical studies.

Dr. John Halfman, Professor of Hydrogeochemistry at Hobart William Smith Colleges has an active program through the Finger Lakes Institute in monitoring the Fingers Lakes included Seneca Lake and its major tributaries.  While links to all his publications can be found on this website, publications relevant to Seneca Lake are linked in the For Additional Information box on the left of this page.  Dr. Halfman has been a principal investigator in research on Seneca Lake.  In the past year in collaboration with Professor Halfman, SLPWA has received grants from the Ontario County Water Resources Council. the Freshwater Future organization and the Tripp Foundation to support the work on Seneca Lake. 

During the past year, SLPWA has developed an active grant program and intends to expand its support of monitoring both hydrogeochemical as well as biological assessments of Seneca Lake.

March 15, 2012, Dr. Halfman will be presenting an update on his research on Seneca Lake.  A preliminary draft of his recent research can be found via this link.