Watershed History
Watershed protection has been a community focus since the late 1980s, when community leaders and county agencies formed the Canandaigua Lake Watershed Task Force with the goal of raising awareness about the issues facing Canandaigua Lake. The critical work of the Task Force eventually led to the development of the Canandaigua Lake Watershed Council under the following timeline:
1994: Task Force developed the State of the Canandaigua Lake Watershed, a comprehensive inventory of the watershed that identified potential pollution sources and provided recommendations to improve and protect the Canandaigua Lake ecosystem. From this report, the Task Force asked the fourteen municipalities that are within the watershed or that draw water from the lake, to come together to review the recommendations and to ultimately take the lead on implementing these strategies.
1998: the municipalities received a grant from the New York State Department of State to develop these recommendations into a formal Watershed Management Plan.
1999: the Watershed Plan was finalized and the fourteen municipalities adopted the Plan, agreed to a funding formula to distribute the costs of the plan, and formed the Canandaigua Lake Watershed Council through Intermunicipal Agreement to lead the partnership effort in implementing this comprehensive watershed strategy.
The Watershed Council and its member municipalities have been successful in obtaining over
$1 million in state grant funding to help implement many priority actions that will be
highlighted throughout this Plan update. The intermunicipal agreement that brings
the municipalities together has been reaffirmed every five years since 2000.
The Watershed Council has been recognized with the following awards:
NYS- DEC Environmental Excellence Award and the EPA Clean Water Partner for the
21st Century Award based on the intermunicipal success of the program.
Friend of Education Award from the Canandaigua City School District for co-sponsoring
Watershed Education in Canandaigua Schools
