Current Status of Onondaga Lake
The status of Onondaga lake has been improved steadily over the past 25 years. The ambient monitoring program (AMP) conducted by Onondaga County, as part of the state and federal cleanup of the lake, has proven to be a success by continuously monitoring the status of the lake. There are many factors that determine the quality of the lake, some of which (like some forms of industrial pollution, e.g. mercury) are not easily monitorable in the lake water. Among those that are more easily monitorable are: water clarity; bacteria levels; dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations, phosphorus concentrations; and ammonia, nitrite and nitrate concentrations. Included below are charts and graphs that are included in the Onondaga Lake Ambient Monitoring Program November 2010.
For more information on the status of Onondaga Lake visit the Onondaga Lake Partnership.
2002 Secchi Disk Transparency (used to determine water clarity) in Onondaga Lake South Deep Station.
2006 Secchi Disk Transparency (used to determine water clarity) in Onondaga Lake South Deep Station.
2001 Bacterial Testing in Onondaga Lake
2006 Bacterial Testing in Onondaga Lake
Average Ammonia Concentrations Discharged from Metro 1995-2006
Trends of Nitrogen Loads from Metro to Onondaga Lake and Concentrations at the South Deep Station, 2006
Average Daily Phosphorus Discharges from Metro 1990-2006
Contour Map of Bathymetry, Onondaga Lake
For more on the chemistry of Onondaga Lake, consider taking a course in the ETG program at Onondaga Community College. Review some of the courses available at B. McAninch's website*.
* Please note: Onondaga Community College is not responsible for the content of personal homepages. If you have questions about a faculty homepage, please contact the individual directly. These links do not contain official College information.