What’s holding up New York’s implementation of measures to protect Owasco Lake and its watershed?
Speaking on FLX Morning, State Senator Rachel May said it’s a variety of factors, some staffing, others political.
“Some of it was just delays because of low staffing, but some of it is real differences in terms of what can be regulated and what can’t be regulated, and what should be regulated and what shouldn’t,” May said. “And so we’re having those debates, to some extent behind closed doors, but I think some of that needs to be very public as well.”
May has stated that she is working to bring state agencies like the DEC and the Department of Health together to find solutions for the lake.
Local and state officials have been pushing for a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) – a maximum amount of pollutants allowed to enter a water body so it will meet water quality standards – for Owasco Lake. By implementing the TMDL, officials hope to reduce the number of Harmful Algal Blooms that occur yearly in the lake.
