News & Publications

For NYS Climate Week (9/19-9/25/21) the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation’s Office of Climate Change (OCC) encouraged communities certified through their Climate Smart Communities Program (CSC) to celebrate their achievements made in support of New York’s climate future by showcasing their work through the CSC scorecard. The CSC scorecard is a new tool developed by the NYS Water Resources Institute (NYS WRI) to help communities communicate the actions they have taken to become certified. 

Breakfast Lecture: Soundscape Indicators of Biodiversity, Ecosystem Function, and Human Influences in the Hudson River Watershed

Hosted on June 10, 2021

Hudson River Watershed Alliance Watershed Breakfast Series
Featured Speaker: Aaron N. Rice, Principal Ecologist and Senior Research Associate, Center for Conservation Bioacoustics, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University
 

The New York State Water Resources Institute (NYSWRI) has published its 2020 Annual Report that showcases the institute's engagement in research, extension, and education across NYS.

For the 14th season, Chris Bowser and volunteers search the Hudson River estuary for juvenile American eels as part of an effort coordinated by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and Cornell University.

DEC and New York - New Jersey Harbor & Estuary Program

Written Testimony of the New York State Water Resources Institute Before the New York City Council Committee on Housing and Buildings and the New York City Council Committee on Resiliency and Waterfronts Regarding Intro 566 and Intro 962

Rassil Sayess, Kristen C. Hychka, and Brian G. Rahm, WRI (Original May 22, 2020).

Ithaca Murals teamed with local artist, Norma Gutierrez, to produce a mural on the wastewater treatment access point at the Ithaca Farmer's Market. The mural brings awareness to the nearby Ithaca Area Wastewater Treatment Facility. A new webpage, found here, highlights the details of this project with pictures of its progress and completion.

This report details the projects and collaborations for our Year of Water initiative over the last year, a program to increase water literacy in our community and build collaborations across organizations. Projects include a mural that beautifully depicts our local water system, trivia stickers that test your water knowledge, and a podcast that explores the complexities of water in different communities.

WRI has released its call for competitive funding applications for FY2021. All institutions of higher learning in NY state are eligible.

One method for community level monitoring of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus causing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is wastewater surveillance – a powerful and relatively inexpensive informational tool that can provide data on how the virus is circulating within a community. This short communication explores the possibilities and limitations of wastewater surveillance for SARS-CoV-2.

One solution municipalities can use to address increasing runoff is to implement residential downspout disconnect and green infrastructure programs. The result is cost savings for wastewater utilities and decreased combined sewer overflow and stormwater runoff in neighborhoods and local waterways. This guidance lays out a step by step guide to disconnect program implementation.

Riparian buffers are a powerful tool to reduce nutrient and sediment input to downstream waterbodies and to protect streams in the face of climate and landscape change. But getting to scale with implementation is going to take a coordinated effort. In light of this, NYS WRI co-hosted a workshop on stream buffers for municipalities in Tompkins County. It focused on both planning and implementation of buffers at municipal, watershed, and site scales. The collected resources and the slides and videos of presentations and panels, compiled on the website, can be useful to many other NYS municipalities.

The Finger Lakes Youth Climate Summit was hosted by Finger Lakes Institute at Hobart and William Smith College on Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2019. with the goal of empowering young adults with knowledge and planning actions they can take to combat climate change. This year’s event is part of Hobart and William Smith 's Year of Water and includes a special focus on our water resources with the summit theme of “Promoting Water Security Through Science for Society and the Environment”.  Kristen Hychka, NYS WRI Program Coordinator, gave the keynote lecture titled "Sponges in the Landscape: Greening Watersheds in the Face of Increasing Drought and Flooding" to over 100 high school students and teachers from around the Finger Lakes. For the rest of the day students took part in workshops, presented posters of ongoing work, and developed Climate Action Plans (CAPs).

WRI has released its call for competitive funding applications for FY2020. All institutions of higher learning in NY state are eligible.