What's in store for Owasco Lake?

Maybe Saturday afternoon's fuel spill, just south of the Cayuga County line and a stone's throw from the banks of the Owasco Inlet, might just spur local leaders to stop jawing and start acting to get a watershed inspector for the Owasco Lake watershed. For months, local officials have been talking about the need for a watershed inspector. Yet, when it comes to the big issue - who will pay for it - local leaders are a model of inaction.

While the spill of fuel oil and kerosene would have occurred with or without a watershed inspector, the event highlights the need to be an active steward for the single major source of drinking water for some 40,000 Cayuga County residents. The leaders of this community, at all local levels, have failed to put in place the steps needed to protect and to reverse the decline of Owasco Lake.

A report last spring by Hobart and William Smith College's assistant professor of Geosciences John Halfman showed that of seven area lakes tested, Owasco was more turbid (sediment clouded) and had higher harmful nitrate nutrients than any other. Yet, even with months of talk, local officials may all agree on the need for a watershed inspector but not on who will pay for it.