State unveils plan to clean up Lake Champlain

Initiative targets key pollution sources in Lake Champlain Watershed, including agriculture and wastewater, to prevent harmful algal blooms

By Zachary Matson

A new plan for New York’s side of the Lake Champlain watershed will guide state funding for years under a two-state attempt to control phosphorus pollution in the nation’s 13th largest lake.   

The state Department of Environmental Conservation on Monday released its final Lake Champlain Watershed Implementation Plan, which details current pollution sources and programs aimed at controlling them.

The plan lists specific projects to prioritize, including grants to improve agriculture practices, dredge sediment, restore streamside buffers and replace undersized culverts. The plan encompasses projects in the Lake George watershed, which ultimately feeds Lake Champlain.

The plan offers the state’s most up-to-date assessment of conditions on Lake Champlain and the key pollution sources driving the growth of harmful algal blooms, fueling excessive plant growth and reducing water clarity. DEC released a draft last year and incorporated public input into the final version.

A 2002 federal pollution control plan mandates certain phosphorus targets for the eastern and western sides of the lake, with a larger allotment accounting for the larger area and higher density of agriculture and development on the Vermont side. New York has met the targets in some tributaries, but neither state has managed to keep phosphorus levels below thresholds outlined to achieve water quality goals. 

In New York’s heavily-forested watershed, about 90% forest cover, roadside erosion, overused trails, poorly managed dirt and logging roads and land development contribute to phosphorus pollution, according to the plan. Agriculture is also a key contributor of phosphorus.

Urban runoff contributes the most phosphorus per acre of any source but makes up a small share of New York’s watershed.

Wastewater treatment plants were identified as a major phosphorus source to control in the 2002 federal plan, and in New York those facilities are contributing around half the phosphorus load they were allocated under that plan. 

Standing on the breezy shore of Lake Champlain at Ausable Point campground, DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos on Monday championed the new plan and progress the state has made in supporting water quality improvement.

Seggos highlighted a recent $1 million grant to the Peru wastewater treatment plant as the type of state investment that has helped control phosphorus pollution around Lake Champlain. 

Seggos, who in February announced plans to step down from the position, said New York continues to invest in programs to improve water infrastructure and protect water quality.

He said the new Lake Champlain plan will guide how future investments are targeted around the important lake.   

“You have to do everything you can to protect this body of water, safeguard it for generations to come,” Seggos said. “This is a moment of renaissance for water quality and environmental investment.”