The heavy rain which befell the region Sunday was worse for Chautauqua Lake than the slower, more extended rainfall of recent months.
According to Tom Small, Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy vice president, forceful rain rushes sediment through tributaries and into the lake, which contributes largely to weed growth and other problems.
"I'm not an expert on it, but I know when you have just a nice soft rain, a gentle rain, it allows the ground time to absorb it," Small said.
"But when a heavy rain comes down so quickly, the majority of the water does not go into the ground - it runs somewhere else."
That somewhere else, according to Small, is Chautauqua Lake, as the majority of the watershed around the lake flows downhill and into the water body.
The greater the severity of the storm, the more sediment and detrimental chemicals, such as phosphorus, find their way into the lake.
An additional challenge which comes with heavy rains is flooding. As streams and tributaries to the lake fill, the water rises and in some places washes across roads - taking even more sediment and chemicals into the lake.
On a day like today, following the severe storms of Sunday and Monday, Small said a person can visibly see how the ends of area streams are a different color than they are on days following periods of no rainfall.
"We've had kids go down in the streams and stand and scoop out water in a mason jar and during a normal day without rain they don't see any difference," Small said. "But on a day after a storm, they may have an inch or half inch of sediment sitting on the bottom of that jar once it settles - and that's all going into the lake."
According to Small, storm traps built by the county and area municipalities have been helpful in catching and retaining water, slowing the amount entering the lake at once. For individuals living in the watershed, smaller actions have just as much impact on protecting the lake from sediment runoff and chemicals.
People shouldn't wait for a heavy rain to start thinking about what's running into the lake. By simply choosing to use phosphorus-free fertilizers and other such products, area residents can help reduce harmful runoff even on sunny days.
Problems Extend To?Lake Erie
The Chautauqua County Health Department closed Lake Erie beaches in the towns of Dunkirk, Hanover and Sheridan on Monday, as a result of potentially hazardous conditions. Specifically, Point Gratiot, Main Street, Wright Park, Sheridan Bay Park, Sunset Bay and Town of Hanover beaches were closed.
"When you have a lot of rain, it washes contamination into area streams," said Mark Stow, director of environmental health. "Additionally, we had some other situations, the Silver Creek sewage treatment plant was underwater at one point, so there was some bypass of untreated sewage in Silver Creek which ended up in the lake."
Though a direct result of the heavy rains Sunday and Monday, Stow said the beaches do close regularly each summer whenever the north end of the county experiences significant rainfall.
"It washes a lot of things into the lake that would cause it to exceed the maximum number of allowable bacteria levels," Stow explained.
In Silver Creek on Monday, the health department issued a boil water order as a result of the flooding at the wastewater treatment plant.
Residents in Silver Creek will be informed when tests confirm that no harmful bacteria are in the system and they no longer need to boil their water.
"That was a different scenario," Stow said of the boil water order, calling it more of a precautionary measure. "There were some breaks in service lines in Silver Creek and drops in pressure. When you have that, you think the system could have been compromised. Contamination could be sucked into the system. We don't have any confirmed bacteria in the system, but there's an assumption that there could be."
According to Stow, the health department will be keeping its Web site updated with details as they develop. For more information, visit www.co.chautauqua.ny.us/health/healthframe.