News

Water Quality Update for August 9, 2024

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today’s water quality update will be brief, as we have had a decrease in bloom activity on the lake over the past last week.

There have been no confirmed blooms since last Saturday, August 3rd.

We thank our volunteers for their consistent water quality reporting. The “no bloom” reports coming in are just as helpful as the bloom reports, as it gives us a full picture of overall lake conditions.

We are starting to experience flooding in some areas related to tropical storm Debby. Please use caution and stay out areas with rushing or rising water. Watershed staff are out checking sites for impacts from the rain activity. Images of flooding or rainfall readings can be sent along to the Watershed Manager, Kevin Olvany, at klo@canandaiguanewyork.gov.

LAKE LEVELS
In anticipation of the watershed-wide rain associated with tropical storm Debby, the Canandaigua Water Resource Recovery Facility opened both outlet gates and the feeder canal gate on Thursday morning. The current lake level is 688.33 ft, and the desired level is 688.50 ft.

 

PREPARATION FOR TROPICAL STORMS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Image by Jason Cernis

Tips for Minimizing Contaminants and Pollutants from entering our water sources:

  • Remove and properly dispose of pet waste & household/yard chemicals
  • Check your sump pump and be sure gutters and downspouts are draining correctly
  • Clear debris from nearby storm drains, culverts & road ditches
  • Remove branches, felled trees, and other organic material from creeks, shorelines, and stream banks

During a storm:

  • Stay away from windows
  • Do not walk or drive through rising waters
  • Be aware of weakened trees and downed power lines

Following a heavy storm event:

  • Avoid wading or swimming in water that has an odor, is cloudy or discolored
  • Watch for submerged (or partially submerged) hazards when boating
Posted in Water Quality Updates

Water Quality Update for August 2, 2024

Water Quality Update for Friday, August 2nd
This week’s update is from Watershed Manager Kevin Olvany, Canandaigua Lake Watershed Council. 

With the hot weather and very calm winds, conditions have been ripe for concentrations of cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) to rise to the surface and reach bloom levels. Watershed Council and Association staff, along with the 70 plus volunteers have all been actively monitoring the lake either visually or with a variety of monitoring tools.

To sum up in one word what are we seeing out there: variability! It is important to remember that the lake surface is 10,500 acres and has 36 miles of shoreline. We have seen a great deal of variability in conditions across the lake and shoreline areas. There could be mid lake streaking of cyanobacteria and clear conditions at the shoreline, or the opposite might be occurring. The northern half of the lake is seeing more pronounced cyanobacteria levels than the southern half. We have also seen a great deal of variability in the same location within minutes and hours. A gentle gust of wind or calm conditions for a few minutes, a boat wave and other factors can change conditions substantially in one geographic area. Conditions can change substantially if you have a 1-2 mph wind vs a 5-6 mph wind.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Left: Shoreline surface streaking on July 30, 2024 at Ontario Beach Park.
Right: Mid-Lake streaks forming at 3:45 PM on August 1st.

The good thing has been our overall lake clarity as measured by Secchi disk has been holding very good. Under good conditions (calm and sunny) we were getting high clarity readings (7+ meters)- which tells us that there is not a lot of cyanobacteria biomass in the water column. However, we have seen this change rapidly in previous years. Lake researchers from Finger Lakes Community College (FLCC) were out on the lake today doing their monthly lake sampling. They launch at the south end and sample multiple locations throughout the lake as they make their way north. They collected a lot of samples that we will be reviewing over the next couple of days. One of the things they identified was a 2-meter reduction in clarity from the southern mid-lake station (7.3 meters) to the northern mid-lake sampling station (5.2 meters). We were getting 7.5 meters of clarity earlier in the week in the northern half of the lake on a sunny calm day.

Use your visual indicators. If you see these conditions: discolored green water, streaking of algae on the surface, or “pea soup” like conditions- avoid swimming and otherwise recreating in these areas. Please use caution before entering the water or letting pets swim in the lake. Conditions can change quickly so it is best to educate yourself on what to look for.  As recommended by the DEC, if you see these conditions, avoid the bloom.
Feel free to reach out with any questions or to report suspicious blooms. You can email us at HABS@canandaigualakeassoc.org

 

ARTICLES OF INTEREST:

A recent article from Peter Mantius’ Waterfront Blog tells the story of HABs in the Finger Lakes, and a recent loss for clean water protections in the Finger Lakes Region:  https://waterfrontonline.blog/2024/08/02/habs-widespread-across-finger-lakes-state-department-of-health-rejects-proposed-rules-to-protect-owasco-lake/

Posted in Water Quality Updates

Water Quality Update for July 26, 2024

CyanoHABs (Harmful Algal Blooms): 11 Blooms Reported, 5 Confirmed 

Average Secchi Disk Water Clarity: 6.8 meters

Average Surface Water Temperature: 75 .5 F

On Tuesday, July 23rd, we shared a mid-week update notifying the public that blooms were observed on the east side of Canandaigua Lake. Two cyanoHABs samples were collected that day and brought to the certified laboratory at the Finger Lakes Institute in Geneva for analysis. The blue-green chlorophyll content in the samples confirmed the blooms, as both were more than six times the DEC’s threshold of 25 micrograms per liter.

Here are some updates since our last communication:

  • There were 11 bloom reports in total filed this monitoring week. Five of the blooms were confirmed by either lab analysis or by review from DEC. We anticipate more blooms to be confirmed as DEC updates its NYHABs website.
  • Since Tuesday’s update, only one zone has reported suspicious blooms, noting slight streaking under the water surface and mild green water.
  • Deep Run public beach in Gorham was closed on Tuesday 7/23 due to a bloom. It remains closed until the County receives the testing results to reopen.
  • We completed our first full week of volunteer monitoring, with 77 total reports filed! Thank you to all the dedicated volunteers keeping a trained eye on Canandaigua Lake.
  • The Secchi disk readings coming in today are showing an increase in clarity in open water areas – an 8.25 meter reading off Vine Valley and 7.3 meters of clarity of Bopple Hill.

As always, we encourage you to check the waterfront before swimming (or letting pets swim) to look for signs of cyanoHABs. Check out the resources below for examples. Conditions can change daily, if not hourly, so your best course of action is to get familiar with cyanoHABs to know what to look for.

As always, feel free to reach out with any questions or to report suspicious blooms. You can email us at HABS@canandaigualakeassoc.org.

The weather looks great…. enjoy the beautiful weekend by the lake!

Posted in Water Quality Updates

Bloom Update for 7July 23, 2024

 

CLWA received 6 reports this afternoon from the northeast side of the lake from volunteers and the public reporting cyanoHABs. The reports ranged from observations of green-tinted water to cyanobacteria forming surface streaks. Deep Run public beach was closed today due to a bloom.

Today’s reports have been from the lake’s northeast side. This was not a lake-wide bloom situation, but we encourage you to check the waterfront before swimming or letting pets in the water. With all the rains and early heat we have been experiencing, we know that conditions can change daily, if not hourly.

Our friends at Cayuga Lake reported a similar situation, with blooms occurring on the northeast side of the lake. Cayuga and Owasco Lakes also unfortunately experienced beach closures today as well.

We will share an update on lake conditions with our regular Friday emails.

We have many trained visual reporters monitoring the lake, but there is also a publicly available link to submit bloom reports to the NYS DEC: on.ny.gov/habform.

As always, feel free to reach out with any questions or to report suspicious blooms. You can email us at HABS@canandaigualakeassoc.org.
Posted in Water Quality Updates

Water Quality Update for July 19, 2024 

CyanoHABs (Harmful Algal Blooms): No Blooms Reported
Average Secchi Disk Water Clarity: 4.1 meters
Average Surface Water Temperature: 75 F

Friday, July 19 2024 – Today marks the official start of the volunteer cyanoHABs monitoring program for Canandaigua Lake. This summer, we have 77 volunteers monitoring 69 zones around the lake!  CLWA volunteers are trained on how to identify cyanoHABs and report their findings using a mobile app developed by our friends at Seneca Lake Pure Waters. The timely reports help document trends in water quality and enable us to share the most current lake conditions with our members and the community. We thank our volunteers for keeping a trained eye on the lake! 

… Did you know?

  • CLWA has a cyanoHABs monitoring page on our website with resources and an interactive map of the Canandaigua Lake bloom reports. Click on the dots to see the dates of the reports.
  • CLWA also hosts an easy-to-use online survey where lake foam reports can be submitted. Please visit the lake foam webpage to find out more and scroll to the bottom to submit reports! 

As always, feel free to reach out with any questions or to report suspicious blooms. You can email us at HABS@canandaigualakeassoc.org.

 

Posted in Water Quality Updates

CLWA Honors Award Recipients at Annual Meeting

CLWA was pleased to recognize several individuals and organizations at our annual meeting on Thursday. June 27th at Star Cider. Read more about the tremendous impact they make on the watershed!

Finger Lakes Land Trust: Partner in Protection, accepted by Executive Director Andy Zepp

CLWA honors an organization who contributions to protecting the Finger Lakes over the past 35 years are unparalleled.  Our Partner in Protection award goes to the Finger Lakes Land Trust.

Let’s talk about a few numbers.  In the Finger Lakes region, the Land Trust has protected more than 31,400 acres of land and 5 miles of lakeshore, forever.  They have created 54 miles of hiking trails in 45 publicly accessible nature preserves, with a half dozen in our watershed, including the Canandaigua Vista Preserve.

If you enjoy the natural beauty of Bare Hill, you can thank the Land Trust for their 10, going on 11, land acquisitions, which all get added to the NYS Bare Hill Unique Area through a partnership with the DEC. Along with Bare Hill, the Land Trust has focused on the Canandaigua Highlands in the Hi-Tor and West River area.  And working with private landowners, they have acquired dozens of conservation easements in our watershed, permanently protecting hundreds and hundreds of acres.

The tremendous accomplishments of the Finger Lakes Land Trust can be attributed to a dedicated staff under the tireless leadership of the Executive Director, Andy Zepp.  CLWA is grateful to have the Land Trust as a partner in protection, and Canandaigua Lake is fortunate to be a major part of the organization’s strategic plan for conservation in the Finger Lakes.

 

Roher Stewardship Award: Rob Gray, Past CLWA Board Member

Henry “Bud” Rohrer’s family has enjoyed cottage living on the lake for generations.  Bud was instrumental in several important CLWA initiatives, in particular, establishing the Lake Legacy Fund back in the summer of 2008. 14 years later, today, we honor Rob Gray!

Following Rob’s 30-year tenure as a chemistry teacher in Canandaigua, Rob volunteered in several local organizations before realizing that his passion and skills were best paired with the strategic goals of CLWA

Rob’s decade-long tenure on our board began with the co-creation of the Outreach Committee and the Lake Friendly Lawn Care program. Rob also birthed CLWA’s annual photo contest (2024 will be the 9th year!) which is very successful in promoting the beauty found all around the watershed. 

“ Improving the health of the Lake and Watershed is certainly a vital pursuit…The now-familiar Lake Friendly Lawncare signs are intended to communicate the necessity for elimination, or at least, minimization of lawn chemical use. I am very pleased by the continued growth of this initiative in the watershed.”

We are grateful that Rob will continue working on Lake Friendly Living efforts and he looks forward to spending more time with friends & family here on the lake. Thank you Rob, for continuing a lifetime of public service by working with us at CLWA, for your friendship, and for your strong leadership and dedication to CLWA and our mission.

 

Next Generation Lake Steward Awards: Shelby Kemp and Taylor Hoose 

It is our honor to recognize two outstanding individuals who have exemplified the spirit of dedication, community involvement, and environmental stewardship through their volunteer efforts. This new award has been established to recognize our newer supporters and the ones that we need to carry this legacy forward. Today, we celebrate Shelby Kemp and Taylor Hoose, the winners of the Next Gen Lake Steward Award.

Shelby’s journey with us began a little over two years ago, and in this time she has contributed her time, expertise, and her network to help share our messaging. She has been instrumental in organizing the FLLT-sponsored Stand Up Paddle Board event, you were a member of the Outreach Committee and have supported citizen science by monitoring harmful algal blooms while working at Canandaigua Sailboard, plus you are also helping with lake monitoring this year. You’ve been a huge supporter and entrant in our photo contest, you also lent your helping hands at our April Pancake Breakfast and Earth Day Festival. Beyond your volunteer support, your presence at many of our events highlights your commitment to our cause. Shelby, your diverse skills, boundless enthusiasm, and dedication have truly made a significant impact and we are very excited to see how you grow with us. 

Our second winner of the Nex Gen Lake Steward Award is Taylor Hoose. Taylor, you are a member of our Outreach Committee and have been pivotal in organizing and leading the night Kayak event last year, you’ve helped secure generous gift cards from Canandaigua Sailboard for our photo contest and have assisted with clean-up efforts and many other events. Your commitment is commendable and your presence at many of our events, while rallying friends and family to support our initiatives, has been tremendous. Your influence has extended to getting many of your friends and even your brother involved in our volunteer efforts. Thank you! Taylor, your dedication and community spirit are truly inspiring.

Their passion for environmental conservation and commitment to our organization has been amazing.  They embody the values we hold dear and inspire us all to contribute towards a better future for our watershed. On behalf of everyone at CLWA, thank you for your incredible service, and congratulations on this well-deserved recognition.

Posted in News

Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS) pull in the West River a success!

July 17, 2024 – Volunteers joined the Finger Lakes PRISM (Partnership for Invasive Species Management) and CLWA in the West River on Wednesday to assist with managing Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS). 

The main target species was water chestnut (Trapa natans) which can form impenetrable mats that can cover large expanses of water. Large populations can alter water quality and clarity, and outcompete native aquatic plants. 

While we pulled some water chestnut, by far the more prominent invasive we removed was the European frog-bit (Hydrocharis morsus-ranae). Frog-bit can spread rapidly and form dense mats, limiting light penetration and inhibiting recreational use.

In just a few short hours, we pulled 5 lbs of water chestnut and 200 lbs of European frog-bit! Thank you to all the volunteers who assisted. It was a fun morning paddling and getting dirty.. and we squeezed in some bird-watching too! 

 

Posted in Lake Monitoring, News, Water Quality Updates

CLWA Participates in Perchlorate Sampling Study After Fireworks Displays

July 2, 2024

The CLWA team was out bright and early Sunday morning participating in the first round of sampling for a study investigating the occurrence of perchlorate in lakes following fireworks displays. 

The study is led by the North American Lake Management Society (NALMS) in partnership with researchers from across the country. Canandaigua Lake applied and was selected as one of the lakes to participate! 

Perchlorate, a chemical commonly used as a propellant in both professional and consumer fireworks, has previously been detected in surface waters after such events, as reported by NALMS. Given its potential environmental and health risks, CLWA wants to understand its local impact better. 

CLWA will collect three samples: one a week before the holiday fireworks, the second the day after the fireworks, and the third one week after the fireworks. By participating, CLWA will contribute valuable data for a comprehensive national perspective on perchlorate contamination in water bodies.

NALMS will provide a report to participants, detailing findings about their lake and the overall project. More information will be shared in the future! 

Posted in Water Quality Updates

Water Quality Update for June 28, 2024

As we dive into the first official week of summer, we’re excited to bring you the first of our weekly water quality updates. Every Friday, you can expect an email from us with the latest information on water quality conditions and other happenings in the Canandaigua Lake watershed.

Here’s how we’re kicking off the monitoring season:

  • Secchi Disk Volunteers: Volunteers have out been monitoring water clarity and surface water temperatures for several weeks. This past week, we observed an average Secchi disk depth of 5.4 meters, which is a 1.4 meter decrease from the previous week’s average of 6.8 meters. The recent significant rain events likely contributed to this drop in clarity, causing an increase in water turbidity. You might have noticed the water’s off-color and floating debris following last week’s storms. Due to this, the Sheriff’s Marine Patrol had issued a lake advisory because of navigation hazards.
  • Surface Water Temperature: Volunteers reported an average surface water temperature of 71.2 degrees Fahrenheit.
  • CyanoHABs Monitoring Program: This summer’s CyanoHABs program will officially kick off on July 19th. Volunteers involved are invited to a “Meet and Greet” at the CLWA office on the afternoon of July 9th.
  • Lake Sampling Program: The Canandaigua Lake Watershed Council and Finger Lakes Community College have started their monthly lake sampling program, which will continue through the fall. 
  • Algal Monitoring Research Project: Six CLWA volunteers are continuing their weekly sampling and ioLight microscope work as part of our partnership with SUNY Environmental Science and Forestry.

On the afternoon of Thursday, June 20th, one of our longtime volunteers noticed a suspicious area in front of their breakwall on the west side of Canandaigua Lake that resembled a bloom. This occurred after two days of rain. The volunteer collected a sample, brought it to the CLWA office the next day, and we sent it to the Finger Lakes Institute for analysis. The results showed blue-green chlorophyll levels more than four times the DEC limit, confirming our first bloom of the season. Thankfully, the bloom dissipated quickly and no other bloom reports have been made since. Overall, lake conditions are looking good right now.

We hope you’re gearing up for a fantastic weekend and the upcoming 4th of July celebrations. As always, feel free to reach out with any questions or to report suspicious bloom activity. You can email us at HABS@canandaigualakeassoc.org.

 

Posted in Water Quality Updates

Celebrating 14 Years of Clarity: The Secchi Disk Program’s Contribution to Water Quality Science in Canandaigua Lake

CLWA is in the enviable position of having a deep bench of trained volunteers collecting various water quality parameters through the multiple programs directed by the Aquatic Citizen Science Committee.

Celebrating its 14th anniversary this year, our longest-running effort is the Secchi Disk Program which measures water clarity. CLWA volunteers take weekly water clarity measurements from prescribed GPS locations in this program. As you might expect, changes have occurred since the inception of this program including online reporting, taking surface temperature readings, and piloted in 2023 a “temperature at depth” initiative with a subset of Secchi volunteers. In 2023, 18 volunteers entered 228 Secchi reports starting as early as April with the last report entered in November. Cumulatively, over a 14-year program that creates a lot of data!

So what happens to all that data? Our partner, the Canandaigua Lake Watershed Council, and the municipal water purveyors use the near real-time reports to help inform of changing water conditions which might impact a water purveyors’ filtration needs due to suspended sediments or signal an impending cHAB (Cyanobacterial Harmful Algal Bloom) due to increased plankton growth. But the usefulness of the data doesn’t stop there.

In 2022, CLWA provided our long-term secchi data set to the Department of Environmental Resources Engineering at SUNY-ESF to support their optical remote sensing research. Optical remote sensing is an evolving science that uses satellites or drones to gather water quality parameters without direct contact using multi-spectral imaging. Though remote sensing has been successfully used in marine environments and larger freshwater systems, like the Great Lakes, to estimate “water clarity, Chl-a, colored dissolved organic matter and suspended particulate matter”, smaller inland lakes pose some unique challenges to this technique. This is especially true for oligotrophic lakes like Canandaigua where water clarity is relatively high and water-leaving radiance is low. (Think there are fewer constituents in the water to reflect to the satellite.) ESF employed the CLWA secchi disk data set to help overcome this challenge by ground-truthing with our empirical data various machine learning algorithms used to estimate water clarity via optical remote sensing and evaluate the accuracy of those algorithms. This work resulted in a research paper published in the IEEE JOURNAL OF SELECTED TOPICS IN APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATIONS AND REMOTE SENSING, VOL. 17, 2024 titled “Mapping Water Clarity in Small Oligotrophic Lakes Using Sentinel-2 Imagery and Machine Learning Methods: A Case Study of Canandaigua Lake in Finger Lakes, New York” .

It would have been hard to imagine when this program started in 2010 that the wealth of our Secchi data would be used to assist the honing of optical remote sensing when used on smaller inland lakes. The strength of the Secchi program and the accessibility to our data attracted this research to Canandaigua Lake. Dr. Bahram Salehi and PhD student Rabia Kahn who co-authored the above paper intend to expand and continue work on Canandaigua Lake this coming season.

Article By Sally Napolitano

Posted in Lake Monitoring