Upland Water Management Project in the Canandaigua Lake Watershed

A farm in the Canandaigua Lake Watershed was experiencing severe gully erosion from stormwater runoff that was affecting 8 acres of downslope cropland. For this site, Ontario County SWCD recently installed an upland water management project that consisted of a diversion ditch with built-in water retention and an underground outlet system. This project will capture and store the damaging upland water volume and then convey it off the cropland in a non-erosive manner. The project will reduce soil loss on the site by up to 20 tons per acre per year, and cut down the peak flow volumes by up to 50% during large storm events. The project also installed a buffer strip on the new diversion for enhanced watershed protections. This project was supported by Round 27 of the Agricultural Nonpoint Source Abatement and Control funding.