The Fall Creek Watershed Committee

... was formed by concerned citizens to promote understanding of how to maintain and improve the ecological health, economic vitality and overall beauty of the watershed through education, data collection, citizen action and partnerships.

View the Resolution of support by the Cayuga Lake Watershed Network Board of Directors.

Monitoring Water Quality

The Fall Creek Watershed Committee
regularly heads out with equipment in hand to survey and collect water samples from Fall and Virgil creeks and their tributaries. Periodically, the teams also collect the young stages of insects and other invertebrates that live in the water. These also serve as indicators of water quality.

To lend a hand, contact George Patte.

View data on the Community Science Institute website.

The USGS collects "real-time" data from stream flow gauges in Fall Creek, which stretches from Lake Como in Cayuga County to the south end of Cayuga Lake. The station is in an area of Ithaca known as Forest Home and is upstream of Cornell University, which uses Fall Creek as its drinking water supply.

View historial data. During the summer of 1974 Art Johnson (a graduate student at Cornell) did a survey of the streams draining into Cayuga Lake. Monitoring data of this survey was provided by Dr. David Bouldin, Professor Emeritus, Cornell University.

Fall Creek Watershed Committee Meetings

Usually the Committee meets every other month on the first Thursday at 5:15 pm at the Old Jail, 120 East Court Street, Ithaca, 2nd floor conference room . Please contact George Patte to confirm meeting dates and locations.

Limited historial meeting minutes are available electronically.

Fall Creek Used as Drinking Water

Fall Creek provides drinking water to the Cornell campus and the hamlet of Forest Home. Veiw water quality reports provided by the drinking water plant staff.

Fall Creek News and Events

Images from past events:

Annual Water Week Celebration at Ithaca's Farmers Market

Joyce Gerbasi, member of the Fall Creek Watershed Committee, and Tad Palmer, then Board member of the Cayuga Lake Watershed Network, discuss stream monitoring.

Below, George Patte, Chair of the FCWC, shares information about the committee with citizens.