A years-long effort to strengthen safeguards for Owasco Lake suffered a major setback last week when the state announced it would not support a plan to update rules for the lake's watershed.
A coordinated effort to better protect the lake began in earnest after toxins from harmful algal blooms were found in drinking water supplies in 2016. Input from a variety of groups, with support from the city of Auburn and town of Owasco, was used to put together a proposal to officially update the rules regarding pollutants and nutrient management in the watershed for the first time since 1984.
The plan was submitted for state approval in 2020. It was the result of a comprehensive effort that involved hundreds of area stakeholders and mountains of scientific data. But the New York State Department of Health responded two years later with a proposal of its own that left out many of the changes requested in the original, and as of last summer was working to implement it.
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Then, last week, the department said it determined that any changes whatsoever to the watershed's rules and regulations "are not necessary to ensure potable water quality for the foreseeable future."
The timing couldn't have been worse. That same week, the Cayuga County Health Department advised聽residents to stay away from聽confirmed聽harmful algal blooms on Cayuga and Owasco lakes, and two swimming beaches were closed to the public. The news served as another reminder that threats to the quality of our drinking water are very real, and the work to protect Owasco Lake must not stall.
That's why we join the chorus of voices urging the state to reconsider its decision.聽We are also holding out hope that the courts might intervene as the result of a pending lawsuit by Auburn, Owasco and the Owasco Watershed Lake Association arguing that the Department of Health is failing to follow Public Health Law and violating New Yorkers' constitutional right to clean water.
In the meantime, communities relying on Owasco Lake for their very survival need to keep investing in the latest technology to keep their drinking water safe, and elected officials at every level need to focus on securing any and all state and federal funding opportunities to help. Ideally we would have the state's help in this effort, but we may very well be on our own now.
The state Department of Health's surprising decision to not update the Owasco Lake watershed rules and regulations was panned at an Auburn-area press conference Friday afternoon.聽
