Charles Boylen, professor of biology and associate director of environmental assessment programs at Rensselaer’s Darrin Fresh Water Institute (DFWI), recently testified on water quality in the Adirondacks at a hearing of the New York State Assembly’s Environmental Conservation Committee.

“This public hearing is designed to gain the necessary information that will assist state and local policymakers on how to address water quality issues,” said Environmental Conservation Committee Chairman Thomas DiNapoli (D-Great Neck) in a prepared statement.

Boylen discussed what is causing pollution in lakes and ponds in the Adirondack Park and what can be done to recognize and minimize its effects. He provided Assembly members with data on programs at DFWI focused on studying the health of 30 Adirondack lakes through long-term monitoring of pH level, nitrate and sulfate concentration, lake biota species, and soil chemistry.

The most concentrated sources of pollution in the Adirondack lakes, called non-point source pollution, are acidic ions, such as nitrate and sulfate from acid rain, and storm water runoff, according to Boylen. During the past 40 years, more than 500 of the Adirondack Park’s 2,800 lakes and ponds have become too acidic to support their native life.

Boylen says that acid deposition through rainfall continues to be a major threat to Adirondack ecosystems. “Upward of 50 percent of freshwater streams and lakes in the Adirondacks have some degree of acidification,” he said.

In his testimony, Boylen stressed the need for funding to support environmental research and ecological monitoring programs such as the DFWI’s Adirondack Effects Assessment Program, which is currently funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. “Federal and privately funded programs cannot provide all the requisite resources needed to monitor and study key water bodies in the Adirondacks,” he said. “If the state values the ecological health of this region, the public will need state assistance in monitoring the health of our waters.”

Twenty-four witnesses, including representatives from state agencies, research scientists, Adirondack towns, and environmental protection and advocacy organizations, provided additional testimony at the hearing.

Published October 10, 2005