This week’s cooler weather has given us some relief from reported blooms. So far, volunteers and watershed staff have performed 23 shoreline surveys, and no blooms have been reported. Good news!
In addition, secchi disk volunteers have been reporting a slight increase in the average clarity from last week, from 4.16 meters last week (week ending 8/16) to 4.64 meters as of today (8/21).
As we have learned, calm, sunny conditions can change things very quickly, so as we head into the weekend please continue to use your visual indicators to look for signs of a potential bloom – surface streaking, pea-soup like conditions, and green cloudy water.
If you have questions, please email: habs@canandaigualakeassoc.org.
Thanks!
Lindsay McMillan Association Director, Canandaigua Lake Watershed Association
Kevin Olvany Watershed Program Manager, Canandaigua Lake Watershed Council
Based on samples collected this week along with visual inspections of the open water and shoreline areas by staff and volunteers, the vast majority of the lake remains well below the DEC threshold of a Harmful Algae Bloom (HAB). However, we are continuing to have a few reports from around the 36 miles of shoreline of isolated blooms. This week’s results from the shoreline volunteers are showing that 26 out of the 31 reports are indicating non-bloom conditions along the shoreline. We have also had numerous calls and emails from residents indicating potential bloom conditions along their shoreline area. Therefore, the basic message, “use your visual indicators before entering the water” needs to be followed closely. Our water clarity has on average dropped by another 0.5 meters this week, with our typical measurement around 4.0 meters using a secchi disk. During the height of the blooms last year we were around 2.75 meters of clarity- so we are not that far away from reaching that level.
As you may have heard, Kershaw Beach was closed yesterday by the State Department of Health. This was done out of a very strict abundance of caution. Samples were collected at the beach yesterday morning by watershed staff and run through the Finger Lakes Institute Fluoroprobe to determine the levels and types of algae. There were a mixture of algae types with very low concentrations of blue green algae (1.1 and 1.6 ug/L when the DEC bloom threshold is 25ug/L). The DOH requires 24 hours before they test for the potential toxin that is associated with Blue Green Algae. The beach continues to look clear this morning and a microcystin toxin test will be collected today by DOH and analyzed over the weekend. Stay tuned to the City’s website for an update as to when the beach will reopen. The kayak launch areas at Kershaw Park have been reopened this morning.
As we head into the weekend, the forecast is calling for sunny, warm weather. This means that conditions for HAB development can occur quickly. Please continue to use your visual indicators to look for signs of a HAB- lots of dots in the water, surface streaking, pea soup like conditions- before you, a family member or pets enter the water. If you have questions or suspect a HAB- please email: habs@canandaigualakeassoc.org.
Thanks!
Kevin Olvany
Watershed Program Manager, Canandaigua Lake Watershed Council
Lindsay McMillan
Association Director, Canandaigua Lake Watershed Association
The vast majority of the lake remains bloom free. However, we have received a few reports this week of surface streaking and “dots” in the water. We had a bloom in the Crystal Beach area on Monday 8/3 which was sampled and results came back above the bloom threshold of 25 ug/L (micrograms per liter). There has also been about a meter reduction in clarity throughout the lake system. However, extensive inspections by the watershed manager and the many volunteers that surveyed this week did not see blooms in most locations. So overall, this information means that the lake is experiencing some isolated blooms that tend to be transient in nature.
Areas showing visual indications of blooms should continue to be avoided. As we head into the weekend, the forecast is calling for sunny, warmer weather. This means that conditions can change very quickly. Please continue use your visual indicators to look for signs of a HAB- lots of dots in the water, surface streaking, pea soup like conditions- before you, a family member or pets enter the water. If you have questions or suspect a HAB- please email: habs@canandaigualakeassoc.org.
This week marked the official launch of the Volunteer Shoreline Harmful Algae Bloom Monitoring Program! This summer, 41 volunteers have been trained and are out proactively monitoring a designated stretch of the shoreline each week, looking for blooms and reporting their findings. A subset of these volunteers are also Sample Monitors, and have been outfitted with bottles and gloves to collect HABs samples throughout the season. Samples are screened at the Finger Lakes Institute at Hobart and William Smith Colleges for total chlorophyll and blue-green chlorophyll a, and microscopy is also performed to look at the overall composition of the algal community. The results of both the visual surveys and samples will help to determine the severity of the blooms. The information collected through the volunteer shoreline HABs program, combined with professional monitoring efforts by watershed staff and readings coming in from our secchi disk volunteers aid us in the development of our Friday Water Quality Updates. It truly is a collaborative approach that involves many eyes on the lake!
From here on out, each week (for the duration of our 10 week program) you will see a Bloom Watch ticker in our weekly updates, which shows the number of shoreline surveys performed, number of blooms reported, as well as information from the previous week so you can see the change in activity. In addition, an interactive Bloom Map from the volunteer efforts will be updated in real-time on our website. Click on the dots to pull up more information on each bloom (date reported, images, etc). These two neat features are thanks to our great partnership with Seneca Lake Pure Waters, our sister Association at Seneca Lake. We thank them for sharing their reporting structure with us!
Thanks!
Kevin Olvany
Watershed Program Manager, Canandaigua Lake Watershed Council
Lindsay McMillan Association Director, Canandaigua Lake Watershed Association
