DAILY GAZETTE
Schenectady, NY
February 17, 2004

FULTON COUNTY EDITION

Sacandaga study highlights erosion
Report expected to help identify repairs

By JOE MAHER Gazette Reporter

MAYFIELD — A study commissioned by the agency that regulates the Great Sacandaga Lake notes that higher lake levels the past two years have resulted in considerable erosion in some areas.

The study, done by the engineering firm of Gomez and Sullivan and commissioned by the Hudson River Black River Regulating District, includes a list of shoreline areas that have been damaged by high water or ice.

The study was required as part of the settlement agreement that came out of the district's Federal Energy Regulatory Commission license renewal in 2000.

The same agreement also included a provision for more reservoir water storage that aims to provide as much water as possible for power generation at the Conklingville Dam.

That aggressive storage rule has been blamed for historic high water levels last spring and this fall.

Regulating district chief engineer Robert Foltan said the report will help with the district's ongoing shoreline-maintenance program by ranking sites that need work.

The study identifies and ranks more than 100 sites throughout Fulton and Saratoga counties.

"We will use this to address, on an annual basis, and review, on an annual basis, sites that need work," Foltan said. "It's a living document."

He said the district worked on 3,023 feet of shoreline last year and expected a similar amount of work to be completed this year. The district put 2,500 tons of stone down at 56 permit areas, he said.

The lake has 125 miles of shoreline and the regulating district has more than 4,600 lakeaccess permit holders.

Jim Jankowski of Broadalbin, a member of the regulating district board, said he'd like to see a more aggressive approach to not only shoreline erosion but also dredging work to re-establish islands and bays.

"I'm very hopeful we can find good common ground," he said.

Peter VanAvery, co-founder of the Batchellerville Bridge Action Committee and a frequent critic of the regulating district, said that he thinks the study may be outdated already.

The field work for the study was conducted Sept. 22-26 and Oct. 8-9, he said, while the reservoir elevation was above the "full" mark of 768 feet above sea level for 52 days in the late fall and winter.

Ice scouring is going to result in even more damage, VanAvery said.

"Heaven knows what the damage has been over that 52-day period," he said. "My guess is they're going to have to do a lot of revisions there. And I'm sure some of the folks who have erosion damage on their shoreline are going to say: 'How come I'm not on the list?' ".

For example, VanAvery said, one of his neighbors in Edinburg has severe shoreline erosion conditions and is not on the list.

"The regulating district should expect complaints from hundreds of property owners who will argue, with justice, that their access-permit areas should have been included in the new erosion data base. The study of the lake's 125-mile-long shoreline was conducted on the quick," he said.

VanAvery said engineers should have spent twice or three times as much time during their field survey.

He also said that high water conditions will have more of a detrimental effect than in the past because these conditions have never lasted as long as they have this year.

The lake was above 768 feet for 59 days in the spring as well as 52 days in the late fall and winter.

"That's almost a third of the year. That's just incredible," he said. "The scouring action of wind and ice has damaged the shoreline further. Docks, wood stairs, and other private structures also have been casualties of the high water."

VanAvery contends that this is proof that the settlement agreement is flawed and biased toward power generation. But Foltan rejected that contention. "I believe the system is neither flawed nor faulty," he said.