Onondaga LakeThe Times Union reports that recent scientific studies are showing promising signs that the heavily polluted Onondaga Lake is becoming cleaner.

n 2005, Syracuse undertook measures to stem further contamination by implementing a $129 million upgrade of Onondaga's Metropolitan Sewage Treatment Plant.

Two years after completion, the Upstate Freshwater Institute has found that oxygen concentration is approaching a normal level while the amounts of harmful phosphorous, mercury, and ammonia drop. Although the lake remains among the nation's top-polluted waterways, these findings warrant optimism.

As Steve Effler, research director of UFI, notes: "Can we eat fish? Is there a bathing beach for swimmers? No, but this research makes it look promising that we can get there."