Water Quality Update for September 17, 2021
WATER QUALITY UPDATE For Friday, September 17, 2021
So far this week:
33 surveys performed
2 Confirmed Blooms (occurred on September 13th, September 14th)
Welcome to the 12th edition of your Friday Water Quality Update! These updates are crafted in partnership with CLWA and the Canandaigua Lake Watershed Council (intermunicipal watershed organization consisting of the fourteen watershed and water purveying municipalities). Current Lake Conditions Overall, water quality conditions remain pretty good for this time of year, with no blooms reported today. Secchi disk readings that have come through this week have ranged from 5.5 - 6.9 meters of clarity. Surveys performed today have shown clear water conditions and the vast majority of the lake remains clear of concentrations of algae. We did have a few isolated blooms pop up earlier this week. Volunteers collected samples on Monday, September 13 and Tuesday, September 14 from areas on the east side of the lake where suspicious reports came in - one in the Crystal Beach area, and another about 500 ft offshore from Pelican Point. The two samples were brought to the Finger Lakes Institute in Geneva for analysis on the fluoroprobe - instrumentation that measures levels of blue green chlorophyll. Both samples came back above the DEC’s threshold for confirmed bloom status (25 micrograms per liter of blue green chlorophyll). Samples results are as follows:
We have not had confirmed blooms since these two reports earlier in the week. September still has the potential for isolated blooms to appear, especially when conditions are just right - mainly calm, sunny weather. The results above remind us that these isolated areas may have the potential for reaching blue green algae concentrations above the bloom threshold. Please continue to use your visual indicators and look for signs of a HAB before swimming or letting pets into the lake. The six Canandaigua Lake water purveyors (the City of Canandaigua, the Village of Newark, the Village of Palmyra, the Village of Rushville, the Town of Gorham, and Bristol Harbour) continue their routine testing of both raw (untreated) and finished (treated) drinking water for microcystin (the toxin that may be produced by cyanobacteria / blue green algae). All results to date have come back as non-detects. Results are uploaded weekly on the CLWA website. Volunteers and watershed staff will be continuing daily observations throughout September and we will communicate any significant changes in bloom activity through our weekly email updates, on our website, and on our facebook page. If you have a question on a suspected bloom, please feel free to send in a photograph to HABs@canandaigualakeassoc.org. Enjoy the weekend everyone!
