The survey's findings are expected to be released later this summer by the Otsego County Water Quality Coordinating Committee which intends to mail copies to the 800 households within one mile of the lake targeted in the study.

A random sample of 600 of those households was mailed the survey last summer and 378 people completed and returned them resulting in a 63 percent response rate.

Dr. Max Pfeffer, Associate Director of Cornell's Center for the Environment, was in charge of the survey and said Monday morning that it contained no big surprises.

There were, he said, some interesting patterns which did come out of the survey.

There was a widespread consensus that watercraft have a negative impact on the lake, but only ten percent of the respondents thought there was too much recreational access to the lake.

When people were questioned about jet skis in particular, more than half of them said would support a ban on them.

People, Pfeffer said, were very concerned about jet skis, but were opposed to restrictions on other types of watercraft. When asked if they would support motorless boat days or a no-motorized watercraft zone, about one-third were strongly opposed and one-fifth supported the measure.

Property owners were less divided about the sources of pollution. Approximately 60 percent identified individual septic systems as important sources of pollution. Less than half identified agriculture; 41 percent said run-off from roads; 30 percent said watercraft were important sources of pollution; and 35 percent named wastewater treatment plants.

Watershed Manager Win McIntyre said the water quality committee was somewhat surprised by the high level of concern people had about the impacts of agriculture, but that people felt less confident in their opinions about agriculture and therefore place actions to decrease agricultural impacts low on their list of priorities.

A large majority of property owners agreed that people should upgrade their septic system for the sake of Otsego Lake water quality and public health.

Seventy-percent of the property owners expressed strong interest in a local or state government program that would subsidize improvements or replacement of septic systems, but only one-fourth of them reported they would not be able to afford to pay the costs associated with stricter regulations on septic tanks.

McIntyre said the survey results have reinforced for him and the committee that they are pointed in the right direction. "The survey confirms our concerns about septic systems," he said.

One fact that startled McIntyre was that 83 percent of those responding who rely on a septic system said they would allow their system to be tested if it was done confidentially and without penalty.

Two years ago, he said, the Biological Field Station suggested just that when it offered anonymous testing of septic systems, but only three people stepped forward.

According to McIntyre, the results will be used to figure out if new watershed regulations are needed and what they should be. "It will help formulate policy," he said.

The current watershed regulations date back to 1977

"What's lacking," he said, "is any control over existing systems."

The trend across the country, he said, is a change toward some level of management for on-site systems.

"That's the direction I'm suggesting," he said.

Dr. Willard Harman, Director of the SUNY Biological Field Station, said he was encouraged by the willingness people demonstrated to put up the resources to work with septic systems. "They're willing to put money where their thoughts seem to be," he said.

Harman said it also seemed to him the whole survey indicated a little growth and more understanding of issues on the part of people completing the survey. He said he based that opinion on a comparison with the results of a survey done by the field station in 1995.

"I felt that implementing the lake management plan was what most of the public thinks is the right thing," he said.

Matt Albright, Dr. Harman's assistant at the Biological Field Station, agreed that it was good to see people identifying septic systems as a primary source of pollution.

"Maybe more important is their willingness to address the problem," he said.

Albright said that agriculture is also a source of pollution, but so much has been done in the watershed to address those problems, that septic systems need to be looked at.

One difficulty is the fact that it is tough to pinpoint troubled systems. Often, by the time conventional die tests are effective, a system is already failing.

"It's tricky to get a handle on what a single septic system is doing," he said.

Albright said some new research and technology on septic systems coming out of Canada show a great deal of promise. He plans to continue looking into the recent developments to see if they can be applied to Otsego Lake.

McIntyre said Pfeffer is currently putting the finishing touches on the final draft of the survey findings and that once completed, it will go to the printer. He expects the document will be ready for distribution in the next four to six weeks and wants to have out in time to reach summer residents who participated in the survey.

"The survey helps with knowing what people out there are worried about. I think that since we had such a good response rate, it's pretty representative of what people are thinking. This is information we should be paying attention to," McIntyre said.