Community Science Institute

At the Community Science Institute, we partner with community-based volunteer groups to better understand and protect local streams and lakes by collecting and disseminating scientifically credible, regulatory-quality data that inform long-term, sustainable management strategies.

You've learned about total suspended solids, but what happens to the water after it's filtered? That would be total dissolved solids. Learn about what that means and why we measure it here! #waterchemistry #CayugaLake #fingerlakes #communityscience #waterquality

It's easy to mix up total suspended solids and turbidity. Though they are related, they are not identical! Turbidity is an optical measure of how light interacts with water, while total suspended solids directly measures floating particles #totalsuspendedsolids #WATERSCIENCE

Turbidity and total suspended solids are often mixed up. Though solids can make water more turbid, they are not the only factor contributing to its turbidity. Here's what exactly turbidity measures and why we measure it. #waterqualitywednesday #turbidity #sciencecommunication

Stormwater conditions (deeper and faster-flowing stream conditions) dilute alkalinity levels, but they increase some water quality indicator values instead because of compounds or sediment carried with rain water or snow melt. #Waterquality #communityscience #water #fingerlakes

The word "alkalinity" might make you think of pH, but the two are different water quality indicators! Alkalinity tells us how well a solution can resist a drop in pH - that is, how resistant a solution is to acidification! #alkalinity #water #pH #cayugalake #fingerlakes

It's still winter, but CSI is already beginning our annual refresher trainings for 2023! Training dates are already set for the creeks listed below. Come join us this year! Email us at info@communityscience.org or visit us at communityscience.org for more info

CSI houses about a dozen stream monitoring groups in the Cayuga Lake Watershed. We especially need volunteers for Canoga, Burroughs, Yawger, Great Gully, and Salmon Creeks, and for our Direct Streams monitoring group. Email us at info@communityscience.org for more information!

Happy Water Quality Wednesday! Today we're covering pH. This may be a test you yourself have conducted with litmus strips. It's an easy indicator to measure, but that doesn't make it any less important! Our pH fact sheet will be published later this week on our website.

UPDATE RE: FUEL SPILL ON CAYUGA LAKE. Please see our most recent tweet for an update.

We have received an update: at this time there is very little sheen on the water, and booms are being put out. A preliminary assessment by the DEC seems to indicate this is not a serious spill event.

At 12pm, a CSI volunteer alerted us of a boat capsize & resulting fuel spill on Cayuga Lake's west shore. Please steer clear of the spill for your safety and to avoid disrupting cleanup. This is all the information we have at this time. TCHD and NYSDEC have already been notified.

UPDATE RE: FUEL SPILL ON CAYUGA LAKE. Fortunately, the spill has been determined to by hydraulic fluid. No evidence of gasoline or diesel in the water has been detected. Sorbent booms have been deployed. Thank you to the DEC for their swift response! Continue to avoid the area

Join us next Wednesday, January 25, at 7pm, at 29 Auburn Rd, Lansing, for a talk on Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs). Thank you to Friends of Salt Point for the invitation to their speaker series! For more information, contact: Robert Rieger RobertHRieger@gmail.com 607-283-3032

This #WaterQualityWednesday, we're introducing conductivity, aka specific conductance. Read through for what it is, why we measure it, and how we measure it. And stay tuned--we'll release our longer fact sheet on conductivity soon, where you can read more details and specifics!

Happy New Year! CSI is excited to announce our outreach theme for 2023: water quality indicators. This month, we'll teach you about chloride and specific conductance. We're looking forward to learning with you!

This desmid (single-celled algae that preceded plants) is being studied as a model for understanding how sexual reproduction works in streptophytes (a taxonomic clade of plants). You can read more here: nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/.../10.1111/np…

We appreciate all our social media followers and subscribers! If you'd like to take your support to the next level, #GivingTuesday is an amazing opportunity to do so. Visit communityscience.org/donate/ to become a member today!

Oscillatoria is not the most common cyanobacteria we see in harmful algal blooms in Cayuga Lake, but we do see it sometimes! Happy Microorganism Monday! #microorganism #microorganisms #cyanobacteria #MicroorganismMonday

Black Friday deals are tempting, but they come at a price! Shipping and shopping increase carbon emissions and waste. That's why we came up with an alternative: why not gift someone a CSI membership instead? You can make a donation here: communityscience.org/donate/

Giving Tuesday 2022 is coming up on November 29! Giving Tuesday is a great day to express your support for causes that are meaningful to you. Here's how you can support CSI's mission of partnering with communities to protect water this #GivingTuesday2022: