The Lake This Week
The week started off with several days that were mild and less humid, then temperatures climbed sharply mid-week into the 90s – and then cooled off again a bit at the end the week with some afternoon showers on Friday.
Lake clarity is improved very noticeably from last week – with the water appearing much clearer and not so green. Both the casual observer can notice the improvement and our secchi disk data collected by our volunteers averaged almost a full meter of increased depth.
While our neighbor Seneca Lake has now been added to the growing list of lakes having confirmed HABs this year – our lake still has not had any confirmed reports. Keep reading below to learn about some ‘HABs look-alikes’ that are out and about right now though. All in all – It was a gorgeous week to be out enjoying the lake!
Make a Splash for Canandaigua Lake at Wegmans
In collaboration with the Canandaigua Lake Watershed Council (CLWC) and the Canandaigua Lake Watershed Association (CLWA) – Wegmans is on a mission to raise awareness and funds for local projects and programs that protect and restore the watershed. Learn more about this collaboration here.
When you shop, you can:
- Purchase a Make a Splash reusable bag
- Donate at the register to support the health of Canandaigua Lake
- Learn how you can get involved: become a member, volunteer, or make a donation
The campaign runs through September 10th.
Every bag, every dollar, every action makes a difference.
And we couldn’t do it without the incredible support of Wegmans — thank you!
Have you been to Wegmans yet? Be sure to donate or round up at the checkout – and grab yourself a Make a Splash reusable bag!
New Lakefront Park and Culinary & Craft Beverage Hub Proposed
Plans are underway to turn a vacant 4-acre lot on the north end of Canandaigua Lake into a regional center for culinary arts and craft beverages. The project also includes a new proposed ‘Canandaigua Lakefront Arts & Natural Park’.
The site—previously considered for an expansion of Pinnacle North—may now host programs run by Finger Lakes Community College, New York Kitchen, and Cornell Cooperative Extension. The Canandaigua Area Development Corp. has offered to donate the land, pending project approval.
Read more here from Democrat and Chronicle article on July 7.
Let’s Work Together to Shape the Proposed Canandaigua Lakefront Arts & Natural Park
The City of Canandaigua is requesting community feedback for plans for the new property that will integrate with Kershaw Park. There is a survey available until Sunday July 27th at 6 pm. You do not have to be a resident of the City to participate. If you would like to share your thoughts about the new park complete the survey below.
Click here to complete the brief online survey.
cHABs Look-a-Likes
From a distance – large amounts of tiny plants floating on the water’s surface can be confused for HABs. But if you take a closer look – you will see that this is in fact a tiny plant called watermeal.
Winds on 7/24 likely pushed this watermeal out of the West River and you might see streaking mid-lake or accumulating onto shore (in this case, along with foam).
Watermeal is a natural, aquatic micro plant that shouldn’t be confused with a harmful algal bloom. The dense surface layers or ‘scums’ it can form along with its bright green color can make it easy to confuse for a HAB from a distance. But if you look up close – it looks ‘seedy’ or ‘gritty’ in appearance.
left: watermeal and foam washing up along the lakeshore. Right: close up of watermeal – with some some duckweed mixed in too. photos courtesy CLWA volunteer Lynn Klotz
New Finger Lakes Foam Reporting Tool Launched
Foam on Canandaigua Lake on October 3, 2024. photo courtesy Emily DeBolt
We are excited to announce the launch of a new Finger Lakes wide foam reporting survey. After working on Canandaigua Lake, Rick and Stella from GAR have expanded their research to include other lakes. We helped them adapt the Canandaigua Foam reporting tool into a larger region-wide survey. If you have participated in the foam survey in the past, you will now need to use this new foam survey. If you have the old one loaded into the Survey 123 app you will want to delete that one and download this one.
You can learn more all about the foam found on Canandaigua Lake and find the link to the survey on our Foam page on the website: https://www.canandaigualakeassoc.org/water-quality/lake-foam/
Read an update about GAR’s work in our most recent Summer Newsletter here.
Stay informed so you can enjoy Canandaigua – or other New York Lakes – safely and confidently this summer.
One tool for doing just that is the online NYHABs map. Once we start having blooms reported on our lake – we also have our own map that is available on our website as well.
NYHABS Map
The link below leads to the NYHABS interactive map and displays the location of HABs in New York State. Each blue dot outlined in black represents a HAB reported in the past 2 weeks. There may be other waterbodies with cHABs that have not been reported to DEC. All reports through our monitoring program are shown on our own map on our website. CLWA staff uploads all cHABs report to the NYHABs database that we receive through our trained volunteers.
This past week neighboring Seneca Lake had their first blooms of the season on July 22, adding them to the list of lakes that have confirmed HABs so far this year.
Remember – conditions can change rapidly. Please use caution when out on the lake and look for characteristics of CyanoHABs including water that looks like:
- Pea soup, spilled paint, surface streaks or scum
- Color’s that are typically green, blue-green or yellow but can also be brown, red or purple
- Typically found along shorelines or coves
For images and more information on CyanoHABs, refer to the section below.
The official volunteer CyanoHABs monitoring program begins today and runs through October 2nd, 2025 but we have encouraged our volunteers to still keep an eye out on conditions prior to this date and report if they suspect bloom-like conditions.
Please, to keep yourselves and pets safe, avoid any water conditions that appear to be bloom-like. Don’t hesitate to reach out to us at 585-394-5030 with any questions or email us at HABS@canandaigualakeassoc.org if you are concerned about water quality. Sending us photos of the water is strongly encouraged. Have a wonderful weekend and stay tuned.