City Officials in Process of Purchasing Dredge For Lake Neatahwanta Clean-Up

by Mikayla Kemp | June 21, 2017 10:12 pm

FULTON, NY – The intended opening of Fulton’s former beach area on Lake Neatahwanta, Stevenson Beach, will be delayed at least another dredging season.

Though city officials were once hopeful the beach could reopen this summer, high toxicity levels do not permit swimmable conditions which Mayor Ronald Woodward Sr. referred to as “disappointing.”

According to testing done by Greg Boyer, a biochemistry professor at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse whose lab completes testing for water bodies around the state, high levels of blue green algae, phosphorous, and nitrogen remain rampant in Lake Neatahwanta.

Boyer recently shared why high levels of blue green algae could be predicted this year[1], citing record setting rain fall resulting in run-off with large quantities of nitrogen and phosphorous which, when paired with recent high temperatures, create the perfect conditions for blue green algae.

“Where we dredged that water quality is better than it was before we did,” Mayor Ronald Woodward Sr. said of both water clarity and blue green algae levels, but not well enough to be deemed swimmable.

Initially, the city had samples of the material off the bottom of the lake sent out for testing which found high toxicity levels, but when testing the water returning to the lake after having been dredged, phosphorous and nitrogen levels were recorded at less than one parts per million.

“So, it’s working. We’ve just go to keep going,” Woodward said.

Currently, the city is in the process of buying the dredging equipment from the contractor that has been completing the dredging work in recent years, Groh Dredging.

The total cost of the purchase will sit at approximately $190,000 though the city intends to use Senator Ritchie’s $100,000 donation to cover the majority of the cost and a portion of the $130,000 the city had previously borrowed for dredging to cover the excess.

“We have more than enough and that cost covers everything we need – the tubing, piping, training,” Woodward explained.

He is hopeful that volunteers will participate in training to run the dredge, though he intends on training one or two city employees as well in the event that a volunteer is not available.

By purchasing the dredge, Mayor Woodward has said that more work will be completed each season.

“Once we own that dredge, the DEC has told us we can start in May and go right up until frost,” he explained, as opposed to dredging until the money runs out for the outside contractor whose typical yearly expense remained around $230,000.

“This makes more sense than to continue have outsiders do the work. That includes paying them to travel in from out of state and everything so we don’t get as much work done as we can when we own it,” Woodward said.

The 700-acre lake intends to be dredged in its entirety, but immediate priority began on the former Stevenson Beach area of the lake with the intention of re-opening a public beach for the first time since it closed in 1988 due to coliform bacteria and poor water clarity.

“There’s seven years left on that permit and I believe within seven years we can have that whole lake done,” Woodward said.

Once the city owns the dredge, they will begin dredging this season and will continue with strategic areas planned to prioritize for dredging each season.

Upon ownership of the dredge, it’s anticipated that next year and possibly the year after, North Bay Campground will not open for camping as the dredging equipment will be housed in this area.

“We have to do what we need to do to get the lake done. It will be for the greater good to close the campground for a year or two to get the lake clean,” Woodward said.

The ultimate goal within the next seven years is to produce a clean, swimmable lake, but the emphasis will remain on reopening Stevenson Beach as soon as possible.

When the city is closer to the beach’s reopening, Woodward anticipates testing from the Department of Environmental Conservation as well as the Department of Health to follow Boyer’s testing.

“Our kids have no place to swim,” Mayor Woodward said, expressing his personal desire to re-open Stevenson Beach. “That beach was a part of our city for more than 100 years.”

[mappress mapid=”128″]

Source URL: https://oswegocountytoday.com/news/fulton/city-officials-in-process-of-purchasing-dredge-for-lake-neatahwanta-clean-up/

---