Volunteers will be monitoring Six Mile Creek today as part of CSI’s Synoptic Stream Monitoring Program. These volunteers will be collecting field measurements and water samples at 16 locations throughout the watershed. Samples collected by volunteers are analyzed at our EPA certified water testing lab for over 12 characteristics of water quality including nutrients, sediment, and pathogenic bacteria. Visit the Community Partnerships page for more information about the Synoptic Stream Monitoring Program. Volunteers can find a guide to sampling procedure and tracking sheets on the Volunteer Resources page.

The water quality of S Creek was first monitored in by these volunteers in partnership with CSI in 2004. Over 16 years of data show the water in the creek to have low concentrations of nutrients relative to northern tributaries in the Cayuga Lake watershed. Water samples collected at the mouth of Six Mile Creek average 23.14 mg/L of total phosphorus and 0.2 mg/L of inorganic nitrogen during baseflow conditions. However, under stormflow conditions, concentrations of nutrients and sediment in Six Mile Creek are much higher. Water samples collected at the mouth of the creek under stormflow conditions average 194.65 mg/L of total phosphorus. These results can be viewed or downloaded for use on CSI’s public Water Quality Database.

Six Mile Creek is a large river that flows through the town of Dryden, Caroline, Danby, and Ithaca. The creek flows into the Ithaca Reservoir, acting as an important drinking water resource for the City of Ithaca. From there it flows over the beautiful Potter’s Falls, through the Mulholland Wildflower Preserve, and over Wells Falls. It flows through downtown Ithaca before its confluence with the Cayuga Inlet, just upstream of the were the Inlet flows into Cayuga Lake. The Six Mile Creek watershed is the most forested of any sub-watershed monitored by CSI and our volunteer partners. It is 51.57 square miles of forest and wetlands (65%), agricultural land (24%), and developed land (11%) (NLCD 2016).

If you are interested in helping CSI protect water in the Six Mile Creek watershed, please email our Outreach Coordinator Nathaniel Launer.