Stop Pollution in the Cayuga Lake Watershed

Taylor DePalma, Ithaca, NY
1st Place, Middle School Category
Immaculate Conception School

The sky was gray; a storm was going to come down any minute now. A farmer who lived near a stream, which would eventually run into Cayuga Lake, looked up into the sky. He decided to put down the fertilizer now so he didn’t have to wait for the storm to pass by. He quickly got ready and went about pouring down his fertilizer onto his small field, and quickly went back inside his house. The rain poured down very hard, and a lot of the fertilizer the farmer had just put down slid down the grass and into the stream that was connected to Cayuga Lake. Now, a situation like this could happen, and all of the chemicals that runoff into the streams, that are connected to Cayuga Lake, or that just runoff straight into Cayuga Lake, pollute our water. We need to protect our water and work together to stop pollutants from going into our water.
Fertilizer is one of the many chemicals that pollute our environment, including our lake. Right now, Cayuga Lake’s water is pretty healthy, but we want it to stay that way. We don’t want dead fish and algae covering the lake whenever we would want to go out on a relaxing boat ride, would we? Today we need to protect our water source so we can have a healthy Cayuga Lake in the future.

Some ways that pollutants get into Cayuga Lake is from runoff. Chemicals may flow into streams, polluting the streams, and maybe even Cayuga Lake if the waterway connects to it! Chemicals may get into the flesh of fish, poisoning them. If the fish are poisoned, whatever other creature that eats them may to become contaminated, including people. From there, this process continues causing many other animals to die.

People are taking action! There are awards given out noticing farmers that are environment-kind. We should help reinforce this by nominating more farmers that are helping the waters of Cayuga Lake. If people all worked together to create a better environment, then the lake would have a healthy future. You can start at home by doing many things like not fertilizing before a rain storm, so the chemicals don’t runoff into the roads or lake because the roads can’t absorb the water. Also, don’t pour chemicals into a storm drain, use chemicals that aren’t toxic, or the least toxic you can find, and don’t use to much chemicals when cleaning, use enough to wash whatever you are washing.

Today we need to help clean up the environment, so the future of Cayuga Lake is healthy. There are many other ways to stop pollution too, not just chemical pollution! You can pick up cans or garbage in your neighborhood, or even make a rain garden as a class project! If everyone in the Cayuga area put their minds to stopping pollution from going into Cayuga Lake, then it could become much cleaner! “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead.

Bibliography

Global Warming; March 12, 2007
http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0215471/global_warming.jtm

Maslanik, Mike; Drinking Water Quality Declining; March 12, 2007
http://www.hws.edu/news/update/showwebclip.asp?webclipid=2772

Cayuga Lake Watershed Network; Lake-Friendly Farms; March 12, 2007
http://www.cayugalake.org/news/LFF.php

Non-Point Source Urban Pollution; March 14, 2007
http://www.protectingwater.com/urban.html

Non-Point Source Agriculture Pollution; March 14, 2007
http://www.protectingwater.com/agriculture.html

“QUOTE B”; March 20, 2007
http://www.quotedb.com/quotes/1821

A Pledge for Clean Water; March 20, 2007
http://counties.cce.cornell.edu/tompkins/cleanwaterpledge/pledge/aroundthehome.php