It is has been just a year since the city of Auburn and town of Owasco hammered out a funding deal to hire a watershed inspector for the first time in more than a decade. It took state Sen. Michael Nozzolio, R-Fayette, to come up with a year of state funding that was dependent on long-term funding from local governments to get done what they should have been doing all along.

You may remember that Nozzolio, a long-time advocate for Owasco Lake (he was the first to get state funding, during the Cuomo years, to re-build the Owasco sea wall) has been pushing to protect the Finger Lakes. With the assistance and research of the Finger Lakes Institute, located at Hobart/William Smith College, it became clear that Owasco Lake was in deep decline. It was one of the most turbid (in less than scientific jargon - cloudy with sediment) of the Finger Lakes. Coupled with this the work done by the Owasco Watershed Lake Association (OWLA) over concerns about allegations of higher than safe levels of phosphorus coming in from Groton, the home of a tilapia fish farm; the urgency to address the decline was more pressing.

The senator's $60,000 pledge of state funds was enough to kick Auburn and Owasco into action. Since then, Jessica Miles has been hired to be the Owasco Lake Watershed Inspector, and that is great news. Yet, she doesn't have the resources or support to do what still needs to be done to re-invigorate the quality of Owasco Lake.

On Tuesday, from 5 to 6:30 p.m. at the Emerson Park Pavilion, Nozzolio and OWLA are hosting their third community meeting to continue the discussion about what to do to protect and restore Owasco Lake. The evening will include a release of the final results of the Institute's lake quality studies. Dr. Joseph Wasileski, OWLA's new chair, plans to have his group also release its action plan for Owasco Lake.

It can also be hoped that the meeting will focus on the state Department of Environmental Conservation's failure to enforce the state's own rules when it comes to discharge from Groton and a plan to force the state to do the right thing.

While Nozzolio sent out post cards to those residents who live within his legislative district, he likely missed, because of legislative rules, those who don't live in his district, including Owasco, Sennett and a slice of Auburn. Residents of those municipalities should also be attending; the lake is their source of drinking water.

Cosentino is a former mayor of Auburn and can be contacted at cozguytho@aol.com