The Nature Conservancy for Central and Western New York, the Ontario County Soil and Water Conservation District, and the Honeoye Lake Watershed Task Force have reason to celebrate this New Year.
They're receiving a $300,000 dollar state grant, which along with private donations, will be used to re-engineer the Honeoye Inlet which feeds the lake, which has been subject to outbreaks of blue-green algae.
Executive Director of the Conservancy, Jim Howe, says this grant will really help with water quality issues in Honeoye Lake.
"We're basically re-engineering Honeoye inlet, the stream that provides half of the water into Honeoye Lake, to connect it with its flood plain, and create some new wetlands alongside it, which will really work wonders to scrub the water entering the lake of nutrients and sediments."
Blue-green algae are a symptom of too many nutrients, especially phosphorus.
Howe says it's a serious issue in five of the Finger Lakes.
"We've got a lot of runoff now coming into the lake, from septic systems and agricultural farm runoff, and without action here we would continue to have a lake that is closed sometime in the summer, and fish and wildlife deaths."
Ground breaking on the wetland and floodplain restoration project is expected in the spring.
A related project will start on Canandaigua Lake, while talks are underway about a similar effort on Owasco Lake.