(July 26, 2006) — The Oswego River was officially removed from a binational list of the Great Lakes' most polluted tributaries Tuesday — the first American site to mark such a milestone.

Meanwhile, the Genesee River, which appears on the same list of 43 polluted sites, needs several more years of effort before it can be considered healthy.

During a ceremony Tuesday afternoon, the lower Oswego was formally removed from a list of "areas of concern" — sites where significant contamination remains and is believed to contribute to Great Lakes pollution.

"The Oswego River is back in business and in full swing," said Alan Steinberg, regional Environmental Protection Agency administrator, calling the ceremony "a landmark in the history of New York state."

Though both were listed 21 years ago, the Oswego River was cleaned up more quickly than the Genesee River, in part because the contamination problems there were defined as less severe, said Charles Knauf, an environmental health project analyst with the Monroe County Health Department.

When identified as an area of concern in 1985, the Oswego River had four "beneficial use impairments" — formally defined as problems that must be resolved before the area can be deemed clean. The Rochester embayment at the mouth of the Genesee had more than a dozen such impairments, each needing research and funding.

Before the Rochester embayment can be removed from the list, data must indicate substantial improvement in each of the 14 problem areas, which range from algae growth to loss of wildlife habitat to fish deformities. The effort will take several more years at least. Here in Rochester, scientists are looking at 37 different measures of water quality. Of these, only 25 even have data that can be used to gauge progress.

Monroe County was recently selected for a $422,000 EPA grant, which will fund three years of research, to begin in September. The research is expected to answer many of the lingering questions.

"When we get the data, we'll definitely be in a better place (to determine whether the embayment is improving)," Knauf said.

Some environmental groups criticized the Oswego delisting this week, arguing that the announcement, timed to coincide with the city's annual Harborfest, celebrated a river that is far from clean.

But about a dozen fishermen who attended Tuesday's ceremony said they've seen drastic progress.

"It used to be a place you stayed away from," Carl Massey, 74, said. "Now, the fishing is better. The smell is better. It's not an embarrassment anymore."

MEDGECOM@DemocratandChronicle.com

Includes reporting by The Associated Press.