“The Future of Ithaca’s Drinking Water: The State of Sixmile Creek”

Date: January 11th, 2012
Location: Borg Warner Room, Tompkins County Library, Green St., Ithaca NY
Time: 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Learn about the new drinking water plant, the success of stream restoration projects and what volunteer monitors are discovering about the health of Sixmile Creek. Find out how you can be a part of it all.

Volunteer Creek Monitors and scientists from the Community Science Institute’s certified lab will present their findings on the state of Sixmile Creek at the Tompkins County Library on January 11, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. They’ll be covering such questions as: “Does the stream support fish?” “Why is Sixmile Creek so muddy?” and “How much does Sixmile Creek contribute to the phosphorus problem in Cayuga Lake?”

Tompkins County Soil & Water Conservation District will share successes of recent restoration efforts affecting both agricultural and developed areas of the watershed. Sixmile Creek also serves as the drinking water source
for the City of Ithaca. The treatment facility will be rebuilt in the next few years, with work in the watershed updating the reservoir and collection system. Representatives from the City will be on hand to provide updates.

The Sixmile Creek Volunteer Monitors have been partnering with the Community Science Institute’s certified lab since September, 2004, to sample the stream at 14 locations several times a year from the headwaters in State
Forests to Plain St. in downtown Ithaca. Results of analyses for bacteria, nutrients and sediment, are reported on the CSI website at www.communityscience.org.