Watershed research available: Students conduct surveys

(Reprinted from The Daily Gazette, July 13, 2007)

By Lee Coleman

Skidmore College students and professors are using the Saratoga Lake watershed as a classroom for community-based environmental research, and their homework is available now to the public.

The college?s Water Resources Initiative has produced more than a dozen reports, including a survey of residents? sentiments on using Saratoga Lake or the Hudson River as the city?s water source and on topics such as employing the Geographic Information System to map and project future land development.

?This summer alone we have nine students doing summer research,? said Karen Kellogg, director of the college?s environmental studies program.

Kellogg, who is also Water Resources Initiative director, said that since the program started two years ago 15 faculty members from a dozen college departments and more than 70 students have been involved in interdisciplinary work and research.

For example, two environmental studies students under the direction of associate professor of government Robert C. Turner took a random telephone survey of Saratoga Springs residents this spring about their preference of having future drinking water come from Saratoga Lake or the Hudson River.

The poll of 313 registered city voters indicated that 46 percent of those contacted favored using Saratoga Lake as a future water source as compared to 28 percent in favor of using water from the Hudson River. The rest either were undecided or favored another source.

Turner said Thursday that he and students Julie Ringer and Sarah Loomis discussed how controversial the water source issue is to many city residents.

He directed the students to be impartial as possible and do it ?really right.?

?They did a great job,? Turner said about the two students, who both graduated from Skidmore in May.

When asked what the most important criteria should be for choosing a new drinking water source, an overwhelming majority of voters said water quality (60 percent), followed by preserving Saratoga Lake (12 percent), ensuring local control (11 percent), cost (10 percent), reducing the likelihood of development (6 percent) and don?t know (1 percent), according to a summary of the survey results.

Kellogg said the idea of the Water Resources Initiative is to bring professors from different departments and students with different majors together in a collaborative, interdisciplinary educational project.

?It is fairly unique among such programs nationally,? Turner said. ?It integrates students? courses [with] community-based research.?

?It?s all focused on the Saratoga Lake watershed,? he said.

In another study, three Skidmore students assessed how zebra mussels, an invasive species, affected Saratoga Lake. The study also discussed the interaction between the zebra mussels and another invasive species, the aquatic plant called Eurasian milfoil, where the zebra mussels actually filtered water, making it clearer, which stimulated more milfoil growth.

The sprawling Saratoga Lake watershed includes the city of Saratoga Springs, where Skidmore College is located, and a dozen other northern and central Saratoga County towns.

Mayor Valerie Keehn of Saratoga Springs said Thursday she attended student presentations of water initiative research projects this spring at the college on North Broadway. ?I have not seen any of the actual studies,? Keehn said.

?It?s great to get the students involved in city issues,? Keehn said. ?I listened to the students? presentations and thought they were good.?

Keehn added, however, the city does not use these student research projects to implement city policy in any way.

Likewise, city Public Works Commissioner Thomas McTygue said he hadn?t seen the water resource program studies themselves but did hear about the one on city residents? water source preferences.

He said the survey supports his long-held conviction that Saratoga Lake is the appropriate source for future city water.

Students take Loughberry Lake samples during a winter class visit.

McTygue said he has allowed Skidmore students to do water testing on Loughberry Lake, the city?s current primary water source, for many years.

Edward Dweck, chairman of the Saratoga Lake Protection and Improvement District, said Thursday he was interviewed about the lake watershed by Skidmore students last year and attended their research presentations at the college at that time.

?It was nice to watch them,? he said. He said the students presented their research in a very accomplished manner.

The Water Resources Initiative is supported by a variety of foundation grants, including the Arthur Vining Davis Foundation, the Rathmann Family Foundation, and the W.M. Keck Foundation, according to the WRI Web site.

The Saratoga County Soil and Water Association has also provided the college money to pay for the chemical analysis of water samples taken throughout the Saratoga Lake watershed.

To access the reports and request copies of the work, go to the project?s Web site.

2007 The Daily Gazette