U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, WRD New York District, Troy, NY WATER RESOURCES REVIEW AND CURRENT CONDITIONS STATEMENT FOR AUGUST 1999 Prepared September 1, 1999 Troy Subdistrict--Summary Report Provisional mean flows in eastern New York were in the deficient range at all sites monitored and included in this report except at East Branch Delaware River at Margaretville. Mean flow at this site was in the average range after being excessive last month. Streamflow conditions were in the deficient range for the fourth consec- utive month at Hudson River at Hadley and Wappinger Creek near Wappingers Falls. A new provisional period-of-record minimum monthly mean discharge was recorded at Mohawk River at Cohoes (82 years; previous = 605cfs, 8/41) and Sacandaga River near Hope (88 years; previous = 53cfs, 8/34). Also, the second lowest period-of-record minimum monthly mean discharge (provisional) for August was recorded at Hudson River at Hadley (79 years; lowest = 396cfs, 1985) and Independence River at Donnattsburg (58 years; lowest = 25cfs, 1944). National Weather Service real-time data at Wallkill River at Gardiner was not available for analysis and therefore this site was not included in this report. On August 7 the Governor declared a drought emergency for 8 southern tier counties: Broome, Chemung, Chenango, Cortland, Madison, Otsego, Steuben, and Tioga. As of August 10 the state Disaster Preparedness Commission had placed 23 counties under a drought warning advisory and a drought watch advisory remains in effect for the rest of the state. There are four levels of State drought advisories: watch, warning, emergency, and disaster. Ithaca Subdistrict--Summary Report Provisional mean monthly flows at all monitored sites included in this report for western New York were in the deficient range except for Allegheny River at Salamanca and Tonawanda Creek at Batavia. Mean flows at these sites were in the normal range. The mean monthly flow at Chenango River near Chenango Forks was the lowest of record for August. Coram Subdistrict--Summary Report Provisional mean flow at Massapequa Creek at Massapequa was in the deficient range for the sixth consecutive month. The provisional monthly mean was the second lowest for August in 62 years of record. ___________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________ Provisional Data for August 1999# INDEX STREAMFLOW STATIONS (Reference period 1961-90)
* Deficient. e Estimate. # Note: Flow statistics based on data collected through August 31, 1999. MONTHLY MEAN DISCHARGE FOR INDEX STREAMFLOW STATIONS
Provisional Data for August 1999# MEAN FLOW FOR SELECTED GAGING STATIONS Percent of median Flow for month Station (cfs) (period of record) *01321000 Sacandaga River near Hope 52 24 *01350000 Schoharie Creek at Prattsville 29 52 *01372500 Wappinger Creek near Wappingers Falls 13 33 01413500 E Br Delaware River at Margaretville 37 76 *01420500 Beaver Kill at Cooks Falls 60 43 *01423000 W Br Delaware River at Walton 42 47 *01512500 Chenango River near Chenango Forks 132 29 *01531000 Chemung River at Chemung 165 41 03011020 Allegheny River at Salamanca 384 66 04217000 Tonawanda Creek at Batavia 16 58 *04221000 Genesee River at Wellsville 19 32 *04230500 Oatka Creek at Garbutt 27 66 *04256000 Independence River at Donnattsburg 26 39 * Deficient. LAKES AND RESERVOIRS Elevation & Storage at End of Month Reservoirs (Storage in million cubic feet) Current Year Last Year Average 01314500 Indian Lake nr Indian Lake, NY 3,628 4,010 3,380 01323500 Great Sacandaga Lake at Conklinville 23,080 28,700 24,770 04295000 Richelieu River (Lake Champlain) at Rouses Point, NY - Elevation in ft above sea level August 31, 1999 94.10 August 31, 1998 97.20 Average (1939-97) 95.18 Maximum daily 98.31 (1976) Minimum daily 93.39 (1949) New York City reservoir system was at 65.5 percent of capacity on August 31, 1999. Normal for this period is 81.2 percent of capacity. # Note: Flow statistics based on data collected through August 31, 1999. ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Provisional Data for August 1999 INDEX OBSERVATION WELLS The observation-well network generally reflects conditions in water-table sand and gravel aquifers and does not necessarily reflect conditions in confined and bedrock aquifers. Water levels in N1259, N1616, Q1249, Sa-1100, S1806, and S1810 have been affected by changes in ground-water withdrawals or sewering. Departure from Median County Well No. Date Water Level (through 1997) Albany A-636 8/31 11.96 - 1.70 Broome Bm-121 8/16 25.64 + 2.93 Cattaraugus Ct-121 8/26 7.84 + 2.27 Chautauqua Cu-10 8/25 41.70 - 8.88 Chemung Cm-46 8/16 25.51 - .51 Chenango Cn-12 8/12 11.70 - 1.92 Cortland C-102 8/2 10.69 - 3.05 Dutchess Du-1009 8/25 19.81 - 3.25 Kings K1194 8/17 10.06 - .22 Madison M-178 8/31 10.92 - 1.45 Nassau N1259 8/18 43.58 - 5.75 Nassau N1616 8/18 69.54 - 4.28 Oneida Oe-151 8/31 26.12 - 1.68 Otsego Og-23 8/12 9.88 - .99 St. Lawrence St-40 8/30 7.60 - .06 Saratoga Sa-1100 8/30 78.36 - 4.44 Steuben Sb-472 8/17 10.15 + .04 Suffolk S1806 8/18 51.28 - 2.89 Suffolk S1810 8/18 49.06 - 1.97 Suffolk S1812 8/25 43.87 - 1.47 Suffolk S4271 8/25 10.74 + .26 Suffolk S5517 8/25 42.33 - 1.78 Suffolk S8833 8/19 15.94 - 1.40 Wyoming Wo-4 8/25 13.46 - .06 * Water level in feet below land-surface datum unless noted with * which indicates reference to sea level. Note: Data for Q1249, unavailable.
