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Sediment, Nutrient, & Pollution

Reduction Program


Seneca Pure Waters' Sediment, Nutrient, and Pollution Reduction program (SNPR) was established in 2021 with a mission to support water quality improvement action within the Seneca Lake watershed. The program has a specific focus on reducing sediment and nutrients that negatively impact the water quality of the lake and its tributaries, and will provide financial support to projects that reduce these pollutants.


Impacts of Pollutants Entering Seneca Lake

The Seneca Lake watershed land use includes:

municipalities and villages, facilities that serve the public including sewage and water treatment plants, significant farmland, wineries and breweries, residential development, and other vacant lands.

These land uses all contribute in various ways and degrees to the sediment and nutrient loading of Seneca Lake, impacting the abundance of harmful algal blooms, nuisance weed growth, and altering the lake's available resources for aquatic life, among other things.




Curbing Sediment, Nutrient, and Pollutant Loading

Limiting the pollutants entering Seneca Lake means managing stormwater that runs through the watershed and into the lake via overland flow, drains and ditches, impervious surfaces, and tributaries that carry water.

Common stormwater management techniques include:

diversion away from polluted areas with culverts and stabilized ditches, vegetated and dry swales, bioretention and settling ponds, and more.

Erosion control measures include:

cover crops and crop rotation, conservation tillage, stream bank plantings, vegetated strip plantings, riparian buffers, to name just a few.

Implementing stormwater management practices and sediment and erosion controls allow pollutants to beneficially settle, and soil to stay in place and out of the water that sustains us and our way of living. 



Funding

The Seneca Pure Waters SNPR program aims to immediately and regularly fund projects that will minimize pollutants entering Seneca Lake and its tributaries. The SNPR committee seeks partnership projects within the Seneca Lake watershed to support financially, for both watershed protection entities, and private citizens who have projects that will minimize Seneca Lake pollution. 

Applicants are invited to submit proposals for sediment and nutrient reduction activities at any time, with projects being funded on a rolling basis. Learn more about funding a project through Pure Waters by emailing info@senecalake.org





Donate

The SNPR program is funded through community member donations and grants alike. Donations made to the SNPR program will be used to directly and often immediately fund a water quality project that will have a positive impact on the health and quality of Seneca Lake.  The more funds the program raises through the support of the community, the greater the impact we will have preserving our most precious natural resource. 

Please donate to the Sediment, Nutrient, and Pollution Reduction program by visiting our donation page. The program will continue to seek matching government grants that can match as high as 5:1, giving an additional boost to your contribution.



CONTACT US:

Seneca Lake Pure Waters Association

P.O. Box 247

Geneva, NY 14456

Email: info@senecalake.org



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