摘要:

Onondaga Lake, NY, has been described as the most polluted lake in the United States. This medium size (surface area of 12 km2and mean depth of 10.9 m), rapidly flushed (average of 3.9 flushes/y), urban lake has received large quantities of domestic and industrial waste associated with development of the Syracuse area. Selected features of the history of development of the area, including municipal and industrial inputs to the lake, are reviewed. Presently about 20% of the inflow to die lake is municipal wastewater effluent Standards for dissolved oxygen, fecal coliform, free ammonia, nitrite, clarity, and mercury concentration in fish flesh are violated routinely in the lake, a state guidance value for total phosphorus concentration is exceeded annually, and the lake's stratification/mixing regime and littoral zone have been impacted. Enforcement actions, now underway against die primary sources of municipal and industrial waste, are described. The design of die research program for die lake is reviewed, and the role subsequent articles in this issue play in developing a management strategy for remediation is described.

ISSN:1040-2381    

DOI:10.1080/07438149609353992

出版商:Taylor & Francis Group    

年代:1996

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

The origins and loadings of Cl−, Na+, and Ca2+to ionically polluted Onondaga Lake, NY, are determined based on monitoring data collected for surface inflows over the 1973–1993 interval. The analysis delineates for lake managers the central role a chemical company has played in the loading of these constituents to the lake and the resulting ionic enrichment of the lake. The recurring, but disparate, ratios of Cl−, Na+, and Ca2+concentrations maintained in the two largest tributaries to the lake depict contrasting industrial and geologic origins of these constituents. Concentrations of the three ionic species are inversely related to flow in these tributaries. The average annual combined loading of Cl−, Na+, and Ca2+to the lake over the last 12y of operation of the chemical plant was 1.2 million metric tons. The plant closed in 1986, and by 1989 the annual loads of Cl−, Na+, and Ca2+had decreased by about 79, 67, and 70% respectively. The residual annual input of the ionic waste in 1989, from the area of the most recently abandoned waste beds, was about 12% of the pre-closure load.

ISSN:1040-2381    

DOI:10.1080/07438149609353993

出版商:Taylor & Francis Group    

年代:1996

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

The profound impact of ionic (saline) waste from soda ash production on the density of inflows to, and the stratification regime of, Onondaga Lake, NY is documented. The analysis is based on inflow data reported by Effler et al. 1996 in this issue and on lake monitoring data collected over the 1968–1994 interval. Particular emphasis is placed on characterization of changes that followed closure of the soda ash manufacturing facility. Inflows enriched with the ionic waste have been more dense than the lake surface and entered as underflows, sometimes plunging to the lake bottom. Density differences have been reduced, but not eliminated, following closure of the facility. During the operation of the facility, the lake annually had a significant salinity component of density stratification, spring turnover failed to occur in a number of years, the duration of summer stratification was extended, and reformation of salinity-based stratification in fall was common. A nearly 90% reduction in ionic waste loading from soda ash production has substantially ameliorated these impacts, though some impact continues to be observed from the residual loading. The impacts of ionic waste on the lake's stratification regime have exacerbated the lake's problem of limited hypolimnetic oxygen resources.

ISSN:1040-2381    

DOI:10.1080/07438149609353994

出版商:Taylor & Francis Group    

年代:1996

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

New York State's Onondaga Lake is a polluted, hypereutrophic, saline lake with a remarkable paleolimnological record. The chemical and diatom stratigraphy of two sediment cores was used to document past anthropogenic impacts on the lake's water quality. Onondaga Lake's pre-historic and pre-industrial water quality conditions are clarified and subsequent major pollution events identified. Pre-1800s Onondaga Lake was mesotrophic and considerably less saline (around 230 mgL−1Cl−) than at present (around 450 mgL−1Cl−). Factors that most affected lake water quality were: 1) increasing settlement in the watershed which increased lake sedimentation and nutrient levels, 2) development of the salt industry during the 1800s which contributed to a rise in lake salinity, 3) the soda-ash industry in die late 1800s through 1900s which added major amounts of CaCO3and salt to the lake, and 4) post-World War II urban and industrial development which contributed to very high nutrient, Hg, and other heavy metal loadings.

ISSN:1040-2381    

DOI:10.1080/07438149609353995

出版商:Taylor & Francis Group    

年代:1996

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

We examined seasonality in the phosphorus (P) physiology of the phytoplankton assemblage of culturally hypereutrophic Onondaga Lake, an urban system located in metropolitan Syracuse, NY. Four years of monitoring data for ambient dissolved and cellular phosphorus pools and phytoplankton biomass and one year of alkaline phosphatase activity (APA) assays supported the assessment. Kinetic approaches utilizing ambient dissolved and stored nutrient pools were evaluated for their utility in tracking nutrient limitation and gave evidence for luxury uptake of soluble reactive P (SRP) and utilization of the dissolved organic P (DOP) pool by the lake's phytoplankton. The high concentrations of phytoplankton biomass maintained annually from mid-to late summer were sustained in part by the DOP pool. Concentrations of SRP appear to be an inadequate representation of nutrient limitation in the lake. The cellular concentration of P, represented by the cell quota (Q, μg particulate P /μg chlorophyll), was generally lower when SRP was depleted. APA is a sensitive indicator of the utilization of DOP and the occurrence of nutrient limitation. The threshold Q value for inducement of APA in the lake is about 1 μgPPμgChl−1. The onset of APA can be used to identify conditions of resource limitation where further reductions in nutrient availability may be expected to yield proportional improvements in water quality. A kinetic framework that relates growth rate to cellular nutrient concentration (Droop kinetics) is favored over one based on ambient dissolved nutrient concentrations (Monod kinetics) for quantifying nutrient limitation in Onondaga Lake.

ISSN:1040-2381    

DOI:10.1080/07438149609353996

出版商:Taylor & Francis Group    

年代:1996

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

The zooplankton assemblage of ionically polluted, culturally eutrophic Onondaga Lake was monitored over the 1979–1989 interval, and compared to surveys conducted in 1968 and 1978. A major shift in the assemblage was apparent by 1987, soon after the closure (1986) of an industrial discharger of ionic (Cl; Na+and Ca2+) waste. Species richness increased from 8 to 18 common species, and more efficient grazers, large-bodied cladocera and the calanoid copepodDiaptomus sitihides, became dominants. Until 1987, a single cyclopoid copepod,Cyclops vernalis, was the dominant component of zooplankton biomass. The most likely cause for the shift in the zooplankton assemblage of the lake is the reduction in salinity, and attendant precipitation of calcium carbonate, associated with the closure of the industry. Improved clarity in the lake, manifested largely as intervals of dramatic increases described as ‘clearing events’, observed annually since 1987, has been attributed to die shift to more efficient grazers. The increased grazing pressure, particularly from large daphnids, may also be responsible for the return of late summer nuisance blooms of filamentous cyanobacteria, not observed in the lake since the early 1970s.

ISSN:1040-2381    

DOI:10.1080/07438149609353997

出版商:Taylor & Francis Group    

年代:1996

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

Onondaga Lake, located in the Syracuse metropolitan area of upstate New York, has been heavily impacted by domestic and industrial waste effluents, resulting in a lake with high salinity, low light availability, and a highly calcareous, nutrient-poor sediment. These factors appear interrelated in reducing the cover, distribution and diversity of aquatic plants between 1940 and 1990. A quantitative survey in 1991 found that only 13% of the littoral zone had any aquatic plants. The plant community was dominated byPotamogeton pectinatus(11%), with four other submersed aquatic plants found:Ceratophyllum demersum, Heteranihera dubia, Myriophyllum spicatum, andPotamogeton crispus. Aquatic plants were found less often than expected on the calcium-carbonate oncolite sediments, which are formed from precipitated calcium carbonate, compared to other sediment types in the lake. Laboratory studies were developed to evaluate the role of sediments in limiting plant growth. These studies showed that Onondaga Lake sediments supported less growth than a reference sediment, but no differences among Onondaga Lake sediment types (oncolite, silt, sand or organic) were found in plant growth bioassay studies.

ISSN:1040-2381    

DOI:10.1080/07438149609353998

出版商:Taylor & Francis Group    

年代:1996

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

Historical accounts of Onondaga Lake dating to the 1600's indicate that the lake once supported a coldwater fishery. By the late 1800's, severe degradation of the lake and adjacent tributary environments was accompanied by declines in the American eel (Anguilla rostrata), and extirpation of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) and whitefish (Coregonussp.). Nine faunal surveys were conducted from 1927 to 1994. We used rarefaction analyses to standardize survey results by computing expected species richness values (E(Sm)) relative to the 1946 gill net catch (7 species, m=164 individuals). Linear regression applied to the expected richness values (E (S164)) over time showed a significant increase in richness from 1946 (YEAR=0) to 1994 (YEAR=47) for fish caught in gill nets [E(S164) = 0.153*YEAR + 6.785, r2=0.79, P<0.005] and trap nets [E(S164) = 0.226*YEAR + 3.723, r2=0.89, P<0.01]. Although species richness has increased, almost half of the species captured since 1989 show no evidence of juvenile recruitment from within the lake. This result points to the role of immigration in maintaining lakewide diversity. The present community structure has developed from 1) species specific declines and extirpations, 2) invasion and establishment of pollution tolerant species, and 3) fishes interacting with refugia.

ISSN:1040-2381    

DOI:10.1080/07438149609353999

出版商:Taylor & Francis Group    

年代:1996

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

The sediment release and cycling of CH4in SO2−4– rich hypereutrophic Onondaga Lake, New York, was assessed for the summer/fall interval of 1989 through a program of collection and analysis of ebullitive gas and monitoring of the lake's water column for dissolved CH4. Approximately 1×107mol of CH4were released from the lake's sediments, at an average rate of 16 mmol/m2/d, from mid-June to mid-September; two-thirds was dissolved, one-third was in the gas phase. About 75% of the ebullitive release of CH4, or 25% of the total release, was lost from the lake to the atmosphere. Strong temporal variations in ebullitive flux were observed. Oxidation of entrained hypolimnetic accumulations of CH4contributed importantly to the major depletion of O2and highly undersaturated conditions observed for the lake's upper layers during the fall mixing period. This water quality problem is a manifestation of the cultural eutrophication of the lake.

ISSN:1040-2381    

DOI:10.1080/07438149609354000

出版商:Taylor & Francis Group    

年代:1996

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

We analyzed measurements of light penetration, the angular distribution of irradiance, the spectral quality of light attenuation, chlorophyll, gelbstoff, and turbidity to depict seasonal dynamics and long-term trends in these optical characteristics for eutrophic Onondaga Lake, NY, over the 1968–1990 period. Strong seasonality in optical characteristics has been common in the lake, particularly since the closure of an adjoining soda ash/chlor-alkali manufacturing facility, associated with the dynamics of phytoplankton biomass, inputs of terrigenous particles, and probably zooplankton grazing. The New York State requirement for Secchi disc depth (SD) (1.2 m) was only met for about 20% of the observations before the closure of the soda ash/chlor-alkali facility in 1986. Since closure, there has been a shift to increased light penetration as a result of reductions in the concentrations of attenuating particles. About 65% of SD observations since the closure have met the SD standard. Blue color is not a realistic management goal for Onondaga Lake because of the high gelbstoff concentrations, that are apparently regulated by natural terrigenous inputs.

ISSN:1040-2381    

DOI:10.1080/07438149609354001

出版商:Taylor & Francis Group    

年代:1996

数据来源: Taylor