Launching Tuesday from Long Point State Park, researchers with The Jefferson Project prepare to deploy two new vertical profilers into both basins of Chautauqua Lake.
Researchers from The Jefferson Project launched two new vertical profilers into the north and south basins of Chautauqua Lake on Tuesday, marking the fifth year of the partnership between the research program and the Institution, Chautauqua County government, and the Chautauqua Lake and Watershed Management Alliance.
The Jefferson Project, a collaboration between Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, IBM Research and the Lake George Association, began as a water quality monitoring and research initiative at Lake George, in Eastern New York. In 2020, efforts kicked off in Chautauqua to bring the project to Chautauqua Lake, and the first vertical profilers were launched in 2022.
“It’s always been part of our 150 Forward strategic plan — and also in the refresh now — to try to keep the lake healthy,” said John Shedd, vice president of campus planning and operations at the Institution.
Maria Pelusi, research specialist with The Jefferson Project, readies the boat for launch Tuesday.
The vertical profilers The Jefferson Projects uses to monitor water quality are essentially large, floating computers; each is composed of a pontoon at the base that supports the compartment holding all of the measuring instruments. To actually assess the quality of the water, each profiler drops a string of sensors into some of the deepest parts of the lake, reaching depths approaching 200 feet.
The goal is to allow researchers to identify actionable steps that can be taken to improve the health of the lake, Shedd explained. Currently, Chautauqua Lake has very high levels of phosphorus, the key nutrient in the growth of harmful algal blooms. With the additional assistance provided by newly installed tributary monitoring stations around the lake, researchers hope to identify potential sources of phosphorus and create a “nutrient budget” for the lake.
“There’s a lot of different potential sources for phosphorus, … including septic systems and wastewater treatment plant discharges, that are part of this equation,” Shedd said. “By identifying that nutrient budget, we can determine what to attack.”
Beyond high levels of phosphorus, though, the water quality in Chautauqua Lake is actually quite good — the Institution acquires most of its drinking water from the lake, and Shedd described it as a “Class A drinking water lake.” The main challenge the lake is facing is the high levels of phosphorus, as well as increased macrophyte populations — macrophytes are the large plants that call the lake floor home.
The biggest challenge facing the research itself, however, may have nothing to do with the lake at all.
Maintaining consistent funding for the project has proven difficult, Shedd said. The goal is to put together a long-term contract to keep the project at the lake, but securing long-term funding is required before that is possible. The ultimate goal, Shedd explained, is for more stakeholders around Chautauqua County to join forces to keep the project around as long as necessary, and the Institution is leading the charge to make that happen. While, in 2023, the Chautauqua County Legislature approved an investment of $1 million to continue research, which had sustained since 2020 by investments of nearly $4 million from the Institution, “it’s been an annual struggle because the funding runs out,” Shedd said.
“We’d love to keep the vertical profilers in the lake longer,” he said. “We’d love to keep the research team together throughout the year, so that they can work on data right away in the springtime — when the early runoff is happening from the snowfall — but we haven’t been able to capture that moment yet because we’re still trying to accomplish funding for the project.”
In the meantime, Shedd said the work may be largely dependent on philanthropy. Ensuring the project’s long-term sustainability is of the utmost importance to protecting the future of the lake, and he hopes that Chautauquans will rally around this critical battle for the lake at the center of Chautauqua County.
“If we can get any kind of help from the community, philanthropy, wherever it could come from, that’s what we’re looking for,” he said. “We’re very optimistic the project is going to continue to improve the quality of the lake.”
