Biological Survey — Genesee River 37 



all}' treated effluent was maintained in ])retty fair condition. 

 Pollution of a similar nature in connection with its tributary, the 

 East Koy at Gainesville, was also inconsiderable. These are of 

 course potential sources of serious contamination. 



A cannery effluent at Hemlock was found to be sw^arming with 

 rat-tail maggots, and almost totally devoid of dissolved oxygen. 

 This, passing into Hemlock outlet, produced what would have been 

 a w^orse condition save for the influx of a considerable quantity 

 of fresh water from Rochester's water supply duct. Abundant 

 patches of blue-green algae coincided with the poor conditions 

 found even a mile below. Great improvement was found more 

 than two miles further down stream. 



Though a considerable amount of decomposing refuse littered 

 the shores about a cannery at Honeoye Falls, the pollution to 

 Honeoye creek at this point was relatively local, and assimilated 

 within a comparatively short distance. An abundance of clean 

 water fish were found between this source of pollution and the 

 dam in Honeoye Falls, slightly more than a mile below. 



Pollution of Mill creek by a paper mill at Dansville was not of 

 such a nature as to appreciably affect the dissolved oxygen con- 

 tent, but manifested itself more by a sludgy deposit on the bed 

 of the stream. 



Canaseraga, regardless of the earh^ part of its course, received 

 within about a mile and a half of its mouth the waste from a large 

 canning factory, and poured into the Genesee a load of 

 decomposable material. 



Little more need be said of Wolf creek. The chloride content 

 found, when calculated as sodium chloride, and at the rate the 

 stream was then flowdng w^ould be equivalent to a discharge of 

 over 500 tons in 24 hours. 



Silver lake inlet, at the time of investigation, was receiving a 

 considerable amount of seepage from a pea-vine stack made by a 

 shelling establishment. This imparted a yellow color to the 

 s'tream which flows into Silver lake, and from which a munici])vil 

 water supply is obtained. The stream was found to have largely 

 i-ecovered within about tw^o miles of the entrance of pollution, 

 and about one-half mile from the lake. 



The bed of Allen creek, receiving the wastes from a paper mill 

 at Scottsville, was heavily carpeted w4th sludge. 



Oatka creek, rapid and riffly below^ Le Roy, appeared to have 

 assimilated an}- i)ollution wdiicli it may have received, the out- 

 standing feature being the extremely high pH or hydrogen ion 

 concentration value. 



Each stream is a study in itself, and conclusions formed from 

 one can not be applied per se to others. Lack of space prevents 

 giving a detailed elaboration of each case investigated, or a de- 

 tailed correlation of biological and chemical results. In general 

 the reappearance of the more intolerant index organisms below 

 a section of contamination coincided w4th the return of the stream 

 to conditions approximating those above the entrance of pollution. 



