Hydrology, chemistry, and sediment and nutrient loads at the intersection of the Genesee River and Erie Canal: An interbasin transfer

Abstract

The Genesee River crosses the Erie Canal before entering Lake Ontario near Rochester, New York. Nutrient, suspended solids, temperature, conductivity, flow, and loading data collected weekly over an entire year near the intersection of the Erie Canal and the Genesee River focused on the question on how the Erie Canal impacts the Genesee River and vice versa how the Genesee River impacts the Erie Canal. Temperature, conductivity, suspended solids and P loads, mass balance, and aerial photography provided evidence for a transfer of water between the Genesee River and Erie Canal and vice versa. Temperature and conductivity of the entire water column of the canal east of the river were moderated by the warmer and lower conductivity of the canal west of the river (Canal West). At the downstream Genesee River site, conductivity and temperature provided evidence of a surficial layer created from Erie Canal water. Mass balance analysis suggested Canal West provided up to 67 % and 77 % of the inputs to the Genesee River and to the canal east of the river, respectively. The average daily Canal West phosphorus load (57.1 kg P/d) accounted for 14.8 % of the phosphorus load to the Genesee River and was higher than those of four major tributaries to the Genesee River. The high average daily load of TP and TSS (4.1 %) load from Canal West to the Genesee River represented a significant anthropogenic interbasin transfer from the Niagara River/Lake Erie via the Erie Canal to the Genesee River and Lake Ontario.