Paul Szmal: He's the Executive Director of the Awaska Lake Watershed Management Council. Dr. Adam Effler is back with us here on FLX Morning. Adam, it is good to have you back. Welcome.
Guest: Good morning, Paul. It's good to be here.
Paul Szmal: And we've got a few different topics we want to cover here, starting with the use of herbicides for removing cover crops before planting. That sounds to me like that could be a problem just on face value. Right.
Guest: So the May 29th Management Council staff feature article in the Citizen newspaper featured cover crops and the use of chemical herbicides in managing them in upstate New York. And the article highlights the growing use of cover crops in recent years, such as rye, oats, clover, and radishes, to improve soil health, reduce nutrient and sediment runoff from farms, and increase resilience to drought and heavy rain, while also noting that these cover crops are typically terminated with herbicides before spring planting. And the reasons for herbicide use include reduced labor, lower fuel consumption, and improved field preparation. And yet costs include herbicide-resistant weeds, water contamination, spray drift, ecological impacts, and potential human health risks. And regarding health risks, there are conflicting scientific and regulatory assessments of the herbicides cancer risk. So we're dealing with kind of a risk versus reward thing here that doesn't always equal out on the side of reward.
Paul Szmal: That's correct.
Guest: It's an imperfect scenario, and the long-term future of farm management will likely depend on integrated approaches that combine cover crops, crop rotation, mechanical controls, and targeted herbicide use to balance agricultural productivity with environmental protection.
Paul Szmal: Now is there something that, is this something that maybe legislation may eventually develop for, or is this more of an advocacy kind of thing where you're trying to educate people on the potential pitfalls of using these herbicides, you know, over wide areas?
Guest: Well, currently it's an advocacy and education approach. The intent of the feature article in The Citizen was to inform the public about the use of herbicides for terminating cover crops. However, there are few regulations in place with regards to their use to that end. Certainly there is a possibility there for advancing regulations to better control and reduce unnecessary use of herbicides.
Paul Szmal: I wanted to ask about integrating clean water plans for advancing water quality protection projects. It sounds like, you know, you really can't do one without the other in this case?
Guest: Well, it's not that you can't do one without the other. It's that there are a number of clean water planning exercises in New York State. The most common probably, or most well known, being the Total Maximum Daily Load. It's used for receiving water bodies that have dominant pollutant sources from point sources, right, which include wastewater treatment facilities and or factories. However, in recent years the state has been targeting non-point source pollution, that is watershed-borne pollution, and mitigating pollution to protect those water bodies. So the idea of integrating clean water plans is directing efficiencies towards implementation strategies. And what I mean for Awasco is, while Awasco was the first of the Finger Lakes to complete and have approved its what's called nine element watershed plan for phosphorus reduction, and as a reminder phosphorus is the limiting nutrient related to algae growth, drinking water purveyors and the Management Council decided to leverage New York State support for another alternate clean water planning initiative. The Drinking Water Source Protection Plan, or DWSP2, where consultants were funded by New York State for the city of Auburn and the town of Awasco, they are awaiting New York State funding to support the drinking water purveyors protection initiatives based on the recommendations of their respective DWSP2 plans. And the broad goals and recommendations from the various clean water plans are cross-cutting, and that's what I mean where integration is invaluable. The Management Council's nine element coordination committee is considering integrating DWSP2 consultant involvement with its efforts, and several projects have been suggested.
Paul Szmal: So this sounds like it would be making a good thing better once we get through the process of dealing with the funding and the appropriations so on and so forth.
Guest: That's correct. It's really a matter of leveraging a resourceful approach, New York State assets and support, and making the most of the various recommendations within these respective plans.
Paul Szmal: Dr. Adam Effler is on board here on FLX Morning from the Awasco Lake Watershed Management Council. Can you tell me about some of the plans for stream bank stabilization, especially in the town of Locke?
Guest: Yes, we had discussed previously, Paul, the Critical Streams Restoration Project that's on the docket for implementing stream bank stabilization measures along the Awasco Inlet in the town of Locke. Project partners have finalized the permitting requirements with the New York State DEC and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The project is listed on the New York State DEC webpage, and the Management Council published the project in the local newspaper for public response. In fact, we received the final approved DEC project permit yesterday, so we are ready for project implementation later this summer.
Paul Szmal: That's great news. Once the project is implemented, how long is it going to take, do you think, to start seeing some positive results?
Guest: Well, that's a great question. We have a tributary monitoring program that has been facilitated over the last several years, and we expect will be ongoing for the next couple of years that will be leveraged to measure performance of that particular project with both upstream and downstream monitoring locations. And one of the primary objectives of the project is to reduce both sediment and nutrient loading to the lake, and ideally we will be able to observe differences between the upstream and downstream sampling locations over the course of the project and into the future.
Paul Szmal: And as always, you know, that data collection is a critical component of any type of project like this.
Guest: That's correct. The Awaska Lake Watershed Management Council uses a data-driven approach, leveraging data and science to make management decisions for the protection of the watershed and the lake.
Paul Szmal: There's been a lot of conversation about the development of data centers across New York State. Now, we know a couple of things. We know that, one, data centers are located near a water source because they generate a tremendous amount of heat, but then that water, which is significantly warmer than the temperature of the base water, is discharged, and that can cause some environmental concerns. What's the status on data center development in the state right now?
Guest: On June 4th, the New York State Legislature passed the Responsible Data Center Development Act, which includes a one-year moratorium on permits for new large-scale data centers. While the state studies their environmental, energy, water, and community impacts, the measure was scaled back from an earlier proposed three-year band and is intended to give policymakers time to develop regulations for the rapidly growing data center industry, particularly facilities supporting artificial intelligence and cloud computing, which draw massive amounts of energy and, as you mentioned, provide for significant heat pollution to receiving water bodies. The bill also requires an environmental impact report, public hearings for major projects, energy efficiency standards, and protections for ratepayers and host communities. Supporters argue the pause is necessary because large data centers consume significant amounts of electricity, water, and land, potentially increasing utility costs and environmental pressures, and opponents, including business and technology groups, contend that the moratorium could discourage investment, slow economic development, and weaken New York's competitiveness in the AI and technology sectors.
Paul Szmal: So it sounds like by placing this moratorium and passing this legislation, the idea behind this is, let's pause, let's get and collect more data, and then be able to make an informed decision on what to do going forward.
Guest: That's correct, Paul. And the idea being, let's slow things down, let's take a deeper look at this, let's make sure that we're approaching this development strategy in a way that's protective of the environment and human interests, and that steamrolling this thing through could have long-term negative impacts, and those impacts need to be examined.
Paul Szmal: Any thought or feeling on whether this will make it to Governor Hochul's desk, and would she then sign it?
Guest: Well, that's a great question. So I believe it's on its way, if not there already. The bill still requires approval from Governor Kathy Hochul to become law. I don't think that I can make an assertion or take a gander at whether or not she will sign. Of course, she, in her leadership position, has to balance a variety of constituent interests. So we'll just have to see where this one goes.
Paul Szmal: Indeed. If people want to find out more information or maybe get the, I believe you have a newsletter, Adam, that goes out, how can they do that?
Guest: Right. I would say that the best place to start is to visit the Owasco Lake Watershed Management Council's website. That's olwmc.org. We have an information and resources page that provides updates from recent board meetings, activities, projects, and programming that we have ongoing. There's also contact information there. We always encourage members of the public to get involved and feel grateful for those who do.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, and that involvement can include assisting in things like measurement and monitoring.
Guest: That's correct. Yes, we work very closely with the Owasco Watershed Lake Association, a group of volunteers that have been very effective at advancing monitoring efforts in the watershed. There are opportunities to get involved there. We also have public events from time to time that we encourage participation from the public for. And so so please reach out, learn more about what we're up to. And and we appreciate any and every effort that the community is willing to engage with.
Paul Szmal: As always, Adam, it is a pleasure to have you on board. We'll check in with you next month.
Guest: It's my pleasure. Thank you so much, Paul.
