The absolutely gross Montour Falls Canal. 🛶
The absolutely gross Montour Falls Canal. 🛶
The other day I paddled the Montour Falls Canal, hoping to see some of Bad Indian Swamp but mostly taking in the bad odors of sewage and gasoline motors as I paddled through the pea green water in the trench dredged more for navigation of power boats than natural beauty.
I am sure a lot of the problem is the nature of the canal – water flows slowly through the marsh into Seneca Lake. It collects waste water from treatment plants Montour Falls and Watkins Glen, along with urban runoff from streets and lawns. It’s downgradient from farms, which run off its share of manure, synthetic fertilizer and pesticides. While no source of pollution is that significant – farmers follow their nutrient management plans, villages treat their waste water to a great extent, it just kind of adds up and collects.
More though needs to be done. The overwhelming smell of sewage suggests that either treatment plants are overflowing, they’re dumping too much treated waste or there are homes, businesses or marinas dumping directly into the lake. While probably a lot of the pollution is dilluted and biodegrades quickly when reaching the lake within hours it’s still pretty gross to say the least and not good for human health or the viability of the canal and the lake as a whole. An occasional emission may not make much of a difference but it adds up.
1 Comment
I’ve lived in this area for decades. This is a wildlife management area rich in life, eagles, cranes, all sorts of water birds…..it was NOT like this in the past. We had a draught in 2020 that caused a great deal of issue. The company running the hydro plants in Seneca Falls and Waterloo are relatively new as well (2016) and they control Seneca Lake’s levels which have been way below average since Sept. The water treatment plant is new. I do not know if/how it is impacting things in the marsh, but the lack of water inside the channels of the marsh is a big problem. The fish all died off (which adds to the smell) As of yesterday, the was literally no water left in 99% of the marsh. And where did you hear Bad Indian Swamp? No one calls it that. It’s called Catharine Creek Wildlife Management Preserve. There is a sign off Rock Cabin Road if you need clarification on that. I understand your points about agricultural run off and other things, but in the past there hasn’t been a huge problem, of course, no water is going to cause the biggest problem of all. I’d like to see this area not turn into a garbage dump of sewage, chemicals and human refuse too all things considered. Let’s hope there’s a future.