(from Route 173 to Onondaga Lake) has been significantly affected by the construction and operation of waste beds containing byproducts from the production of sodium carbonate by the Solvay Process. The Solvay Process Company (later acquired by Allied Corp.) began production in 1886. Initially wastes from the process were deposited along the shore of Onondaga Lake. Starting in 1916, waste beds 1–6 were constructed on the shore of the lake in the vicinity of Nine Mile Creek, and the creek was diverted to the north around beds 5 and 6. The beds along Nine Mile Creek near the lakeshore were abandoned after 1944 when a waste bed dike failed, causing flooding of portions of the Village of Solvay by the waste. A series of additional waste beds (beds 9–15) were then constructed along Nine Mile Creek upstream of the lake. A portion of the creek was rerouted to allow construction of beds 9, 10, and 11. The creek in this section shows an increase in pH and a decrease in phosphate concentration, due to the high alkalinity of leachate from the wastebeds. A clean-up program is currently being conducted by Honeywell (the successor to Allied Signal) along the lower part of Nine Mile Creek and for Onondaga Lake under terms of a consent order with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Documents concerning the clean-up can be found here: Onondaga Lake Cleanup Physical Characteristics Nine Mile Creek transforms itself several times throughout its approximately -long course through the Town of Marcellus. Nine Mile Creek drops in elevation between the Otisco Lake outlet and the Camillus-Marcellus town line by making the average stream velocity about 0.8 ft/s. The maximum depth is and average depth is 1.0 feet. (Update for entire creek ) A distinct difference in the creeks character occurs north versus south of the Village of Marcellus. South of the Village, one finds a meandering shallow stream with dense bank vegetation and the occasional beaver impoundment. The dam at the north end of Otisco Lake controls the flow of the creek and strongly influences the first several kilometers of the stream. Warm surface water from the lake feeds Nine Mile Creek in summer months making it intolerable for coldwater stream fish such as trout. In this reach, however, a diverse fishery is maintained, with a wide variety of fish more closely associated with warm waters. North of the