New York Times Bestseller Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize Winner of the J. Anthony Lukas Award "Nimbly splices together history, science, reporting and personal experiences into a taut and cautiously hopeful narrative.… Egan’s book is bursting with life (and yes, death)." —Robert Moor, New York Times Book Review The Great Lakes—Erie, Huron, Michigan, Ontario, and Superior—hold 20 percent of the world’s supply of surface fresh water and provide sustenance, work, and recreation for tens of millions of Americans. But they are under threat as never before, and their problems are spreading across the continent. The Death and Life of the Great Lakes is prize-winning reporter Dan Egan’s compulsively readable portrait of an ecological catastrophe happening right before our eyes, blending the epic story of the lakes with an examination of the perils they face and the ways we can restore and preserve them for generations to come.

Fascinating stories based on the author’s exploration of eight rivers in New York and Québec.

Lakes of New York State, Volume III: Ecology of the Lakes of East-Central New York discusses the limnology of three lakes in the New York State—Otsego Lake (Glimmerglass), Canadarago Lake, and Saratoga Lake. This book is divided into three chapters. Chapter 1 describes Otsego Lake as one of the deeper lakes in the state with a maximum depth of 50.5 m. The historical data, ecosystem, geography, and hydrology of Canadarago Lake are discussed in Chapter 2. The last chapter categorizes Saratoga Lake as a productive lake exhibiting the classic symptoms of cultural eutrophication—low water clarity, growth of nuisance algae, hypolimnetic oxygen depletion, and the presence of fecal bacteria in the water. This publication is beneficial to limnologists and ecologists working on freshwater lakes.

Lakes of New York State, Volume II: Ecology of the Lakes of Western New York intensively studies four lakes in the New York State—Chautauqua Lake, Onondaga Lake, Oneida Lake, and Irondequoit Bay. This book is divided into four chapters. Chapter 1 reviews the historical data of Oneida Lake that has a large base of 206.7 km2 and relatively shallow depth of 16.8 m. Irondequoit Bay is described in Chapter 2 as a lake with great recreational potential despite large inputs of municipal wastes to its tributary streams. Chapter 3 categorizes Chautauqua Lake as a productive fishery and recreational resource. Onondaga Lake is recognized in the last chapter as a receptacle for waste products due to man's abusive activities on its shores. This volume provides interesting case studies for students or professionals interested in the impact of the activities of mankind on lakes.

New York City's municipal water supply system provides about 1 billion gallons of drinking water a day to over 8.5 million people in New York City and about 1 million people living in nearby Westchester, Putnam, Ulster, and Orange counties. The combined water supply system includes 19 reservoirs and three controlled lakes with a total storage capacity of approximately 580 billion gallons. The city's Watershed Protection Program is intended to maintain and enhance the high quality of these surface water sources. Review of the New York City Watershed Protection Program assesses the efficacy and future of New York City's watershed management activities. The report identifies program areas that may require future change or action, including continued efforts to address turbidity and responding to changes in reservoir water quality as a result of climate change.

Freshwater Ecology: Concepts and Environmental Applications is a general text covering both basic and applied aspects of freshwater ecology and serves as an introduction to the study of lakes and streams. Issues of spatial and temporal scale, anthropogenic impacts, and application of current ecological concepts are covered along with ideas that are presented in more traditional limnological texts. Chapters on biodiversity, toxic chemicals, extreme and unusual habitats, and fisheries increase the breadth of material covered. The book includes an extensive glossary, questions for thought, worked examples of equations, and real-life problems. - Broad coverage of groundwaters, streams, wetlands, and lakes - Features basic scientific concepts and environmental applications throughout - Includes many figures, sidebars of fascinating applications, and biographies of practicing aquatic ecologists - Materials are presented to facilitate learning, including an extensive glossary, questions for thought, worked examples of equations, and real life problems - Written at a level understandable to most undergraduate students, with explanations of complex contemporary concepts in freshwater ecology described to promote understanding - Featuring small chapters that mainly stand alone, this book can be read in the order most suited to the specific application