Miscellaneous Publications
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Sewer/Lake Quality Project and Publications
Findley Lake is the westernmost lake in New York State and is fed primarily from underground springs as well as surface runoff from five tributaries within its 3,000 acre watershed. The lake was created from two ponds that were dammed up at their north outlet by Alexander Findley in 1815. Summer lake levels are maintained by the Findley Lake Watershed Foundation at about 1,420 feet above mean sea level and lowered in the winter using a mechanical gate at the spillway.
Findley Lake, like all natural lakes, has a life cycle or aging process that moves it from open water to become a wetland and then dry land. Humans can greatly accelerate the aging process by adding unnatural levels of nutrients to the lake’s water. Once nutrients enter the lake, they remain and are the fertilizer for weed growth and algal blooms.
Findley Lake has been studied extensively and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has designated Findley Lake as an impaired water body. In a July 7, 2022 letter to the Town of Mina, Melanie Stein, P.E. with DEC, states that the 2008 “Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for Phosphorus in Findley Lake” set phosphorus goals and that “the TMDL requires a 100 percent reduction in phosphorus loading from residential septic systems. The report recommends a systemic approach, such as the formation of a sewer district and the discharge of treated wastewater outside of the watershed.”
Findley Lake, like all natural lakes, has a life cycle or aging process that moves it from open water to become a wetland and then dry land. Humans can greatly accelerate the aging process by adding unnatural levels of nutrients to the lake’s water. Once nutrients enter the lake, they remain and are the fertilizer for weed growth and algal blooms.
Findley Lake has been studied extensively and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has designated Findley Lake as an impaired water body. In a July 7, 2022 letter to the Town of Mina, Melanie Stein, P.E. with DEC, states that the 2008 “Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for Phosphorus in Findley Lake” set phosphorus goals and that “the TMDL requires a 100 percent reduction in phosphorus loading from residential septic systems. The report recommends a systemic approach, such as the formation of a sewer district and the discharge of treated wastewater outside of the watershed.”
- Memorandum dated 10/16/23 from Melanie Wright, P.E., Division of Water – New York State Department of Environmental Conservation re: Findley Lake Internal Loading
- Letter dated 10/13/23 from Jessica Wuerstle, Director of Environmental Health – Chautauqua County Health Department re: Property Requirements for the Mandatory Inspection Program
- Additional Information dated 10/16/23 from Matthew Zarbo, PE and Andrew Meyerhofer, PE - Barton & Loguidice Engineers
- Town of Mina Information dated 10/16/23 on Grants for Low Income Qualified Households
- Findley Lake Sanitary Sewer District State Environmental Quality Review (SEQRA)
- Chautauqua County Health Department Frequently Asked Questions
- Barton & LoGuidice Engineering Firm Frequently Asked Questions
- October 21, 2023 SPECIAL ELECTION PROPOSED FORMATION OF THE FINDLEY LAKE SEWER DISTRICT Rules for Voting by Absentee Ballot
- October 21, 2023 SPECIAL ELECTION PROPOSED FORMATION OF THE FINDLEY LAKE SEWER DISTRICT Rules for Voting
- August 2023 Barton & Loguidice Engineers revised Sewer District Map, Plan and Report
- July 29, 2023 Barton & Loguidice Engineers Findley Lake Sewer District Public Meeting Presentation
- July 2023 Findley Lake Sanitary Sewer District Map, Plan, and Report
- May 2023 Barton & Loguidice Non-Agricultural Nonpoint Source Planning Grants Kickoff Meeting
- May 2023 Barton & Loguidice Findley Lake Watershed Map
- February 2023 Chautauqua County Health Department Environmental Division presentation on February 16, 2023 to Mina Town Board Wastewater Treatment Systems/Septic Systems
- September 2022 DEC Info Locator (waterbody fact sheets, including impairment status – turn on “Waterbody Inventory/Priority Waterbodies List” layer under DEC Information Layers/Environmental Quality/Environmental Monitoring)
- September 2022 Current and Draft 303(d) Lists
- September 2022 Monitoring Data Portal
- September 2022 CSLAP Reports
- September 2022 TMDL Information
- September 2022 Findley Lake Water Quality DEC (PowerPoint)
- September 2022 Chautauqua County Department of Health and Human Services Division of Public Health Environmental Health Unit from Jessica Wuerstle, Environmental Health Director
- September 2022 Proposed Sewer District Draft Map, Plan and Report
- FL Sewer District Public Information
- August 2022 Sewer District Boundary Map
- July 2022 DEC Letter from Melanie Stein
- June 2022 Preliminary Engineering Report
- June 2022 Preliminary Engineering Report Presentation
- January 2022 The State of Findley Lake Chautauqua County Department of Health & SUNY Fredonia Department of Geosciences
- January 2022 The Management Plan for Findley Lake and Its Watershed Findley Lake Watershed Foundation (formerly Findley Lake Property Owners Association)
- December 2021 Princeton Hydro Report
- 2021 Town of Mina Sewer Engineering RFP
- January 2017 Engineering Report on Findley Lake Sewerage Project, Sewer District Formation Map, Plan and Report Greenman Pedersen, Inc.
- January 2017 Mandatory Inspection Program for Lakeshore Onsite Waste Treatment Systems Chautauqua County Department of Health & Human Services, Environmental Health Unit
- July 2015 Town of Mina Sewer Project Overview Rebecca Brumagin, Town Supervisor
- July 2008 Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for Phosphorous in Findley Lake The Cadmus Group Inc.
- March 2007 Sources of Unwanted Nutrients at Findley Lake SUNY Fredonia
- March 2007 Water Quality Task Force Recommendations Chautauqua County Water Quality Task Force