Onondaga Lake Partnership Web Site

A partnership of governmental and private interests uses the Internet and e-mail to inform the public about a major environmental restoration project.

Need/Opportunity

• Inform public about a major environmental restoration project
• Provide information about cleanup partnership mission and activities
• Provide access to restoration-related documents

The Onondaga Lake Partnership (OLP) facilitates and coordinates the development and implementation of projects for the restoration, conservation, and management of Onondaga Lake in Syracuse, New York. Onondaga Lake is one of the most polluted lakes in the United States. The Onondaga Lake Partnership web site is the Internet-based public information center for the restoration of the lake and highlights the activities of the partnership to coordinate the massive cleanup effort. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Buffalo District), the lead agency in the partnership, chose Argonne National Laboratory's Environmental Science Division (EVS) to redesign and expand the existing OLP web site to enhance its public communication and involvement activities.

Approach

• Conduct detailed audience and needs analysis
• Restructure Web-site architecture and navigation
• Develop database of past, present, and future restoration projects
• Develop Web-based administrative tools for news, events, and e-mail announcements

Working closely with OLP staff, EVS conducted a detailed design analysis to examine the needs of the partnership's public audience. The analysis revealed that visitors needed more information about Onondaga Lake pollution problems and restoration activities, and that the site needed a new information architecture and navigation system to make it easy to use.

The redesigned OLP web site contains extensive information about Onondaga Lake, its pollution history, current pollution problems, and the restoration program for the lake. The site also provides information about the partnership, its activities, opportunities to get involved, restoration-related news, and events of interest to the public. Visitors can subscribe to the partnership's e-mail news service for desktop delivery of current news and information on upcoming events. A secure, Web-based administrative interface is available to OLP staff to add and edit news items and to send e-mail announcements. OLP's newsletter is available online, and e-mail subscribers are notified of new issues by e-mail. Visitors can find out about past, present, and future restoration projects by searching the online projects database. The site also offers a frequently asked questions page, an extensive glossary, a database-driven image gallery, and downloadable documents.

Results

The redesigned OLP web site was launched in March 2003. The site currently averages more than 40 users per day.

Benefits

• Expanded content and services
• Easier navigation
• Reduced communication and document distribution costs
• Reduced web site maintenance costs

The redesigned OLP web site has significantly improved the OLP public information and communication program. The new site has greatly expanded content and services and is much easier to use than the original site. The new site provides the public with easy access to important educational material and documents and helps raise awareness of the partnership's initiatives and activities. Effective use of e-mail communications and online documents reduces communication costs. The availability of web-based administrative tools designed for use by nontechnical persons reduces Web-site maintenance costs.