Light dinner provided | Agenda & Registration
Light dinner provided
Light dinner provided
The workshops are interactive events for appointed and elected municipal official. Speakers include Mark Lichenstein and Sara Pesek of the Syracuse University Environmental Finance Center, David Miller of the USDA Rural Development, and Stephen Lewandowski of the Lake Ontario Coastal Initiative.
Workshops will focus on the water quality aspect of economic development issues and may address other topics. Participants will be asked to listen, respond and suggest needs and further topics.
Registration fee $15
To reserve a spot at one of these workshops, contact Sara Pesek.
Sara Pesek
Syracuse University EFC
621 Skytop road, Suite 1000
Syracuse, NY 13244
tel: 315-443-8488
fax: 315-443-1329
For more information contact:
Sara Pesek at 315-443-8488 or
Stephen Lewandowski at 585-394-5030
Municipal officials surveyed by LOCI in 2007 indicated that the management of wastewater, from existing treatment plants and septic systems, is the #1 problem facing their municipalities.
As a result, LOCI is now partnering with the EPA Environmental Finance Center at Syracuse University to produce a series of workshops on the topic. The first was held at Fairhaven State Park in Fairhaven, NY on November 29, and several more will be scheduled in 2008 at various locations along the coastline. LOCI will send invitations to these workshops to local officials in the regions.
At Fairhaven, about 30 public officials met, including town, city and village supervisors highway superintendents and planning board members, representatives of the NYS Environmental Facilities Corporation, Health Department, RCAP Solutions and USDA Rural Development. Assemblyman Bob Oaks, Oswego County Economic Development, and the Wayne County Sewer and Water Authority were also represented.
The group was welcomed by Fairhaven Village Mayor William McVea and Town of Sterling Supervisor Joan Kelley. McVea offered some comments on the progress of re-building NYS Rte. 104A through the village and installation of a collector sewer along the highway to serve other parts of the village as funding allows.
Mark Lichtenstein, Director of the Syracuse University Environmental Finance Center, told the workshop participants that, after several presentations, they would be called on to discuss conditions in their communities in a roundtable format.
Lichtenstein introduced David Miller, NYS Director of USDA Rural Development who outlined RD’s program of technical assistance and financing to water and wastewater projects and said that workshop participants would have the opportunity to shape the direction of a new project focusing on technical, managerial and financial aspects of small community infrastructure systems.
LOCI Program Director Stephen Lewandowski made a presentation to the group detailing LOCI’s origin, structure, and activities and describing the research on nearshore water quality conditions that has identified concerns.
After lunch, Lewandowski presented information assembled by Dr. Joseph Makarewicz and Todd Howell of the Ontario (CN) Ministry of the Environment for a White Paper preliminary to the Lake Ontario Intensive Year 2008. Technical in nature, the White Paper summarizes the state of knowledge of Lake Ontario and details information and research gaps which Great Lakes scientists are encouraged to fill during 2008. Unlike the earlier LOCI presentation, Makarewicz/Howell provided information from the Canadian shore of Lake Ontario, summarized research by Twiss and the Metro Toronto Region Conservation Authority showing the lake’s dilution of pollutants carried by runoff, and quantified levels of phycocyanin and microcystin (pollutants originating with cyanobacteria and raising drinking water health concerns) in the nearshore area that serves as withdrawal point for most of public drinking water systems in Lake Ontario. The presentation suggested that high nutrient levels in runoff and the sequestration of such enriched water in the nearshore area and embayments may lead to elevated levels of cyanobacteria in the water.
Lichtenstein facilitated a general discussion among participants about the sources of enrichment, including the effluent from wastewater treatment plants and malfunctioning septic systems, other concerns such as mercury levels and the presence of pharmaceutical/personal health care products in wastewater, and the difficulties in progressing from problem identification to remedial action, involving the need for considerable technical, managerial and financial skills and resources.
The group welcomed the opportunity to share concerns and information and noted the need for more meetings leading to technical, managerial and financial assistance in solving wastewater and other problems affecting Lake Ontario.