Upland Water Retention in the Canandaigua Lake Watershed

Ontario County SWCD recently completed an upland water retention basin on agricultural lands in the Canandaigua Lake Watershed. This project consisted of installing a water collection basin with a surface inlet that drains into a large underground outlet system. This project collects up to 72,000 gallons of surface water that was eroding the downslope agricultural field. By placing the structure at the tree line, no agricultural acreage was taken out of production. The basin results in an annual soil savings of 32 tons of soil saved per year. This project was cost shared through the Finger Lakes Ecosystem Based Management (EBM) Grant program.