Water Quality Update for August 18, 2023

Current Lake Conditions

Harmful Algae Blooms: One suspicious bloom reported. Zero confirmed blooms.

Average Secchi Disk Water Clarity: 5.6 meters

Average Surface Water Temperature: 74°F

Lake Level: 688.08 feet above sea level
Happy Friday!

Volunteers continue to submit shoreline surveys, with 58 reports entered this week. On Sunday, August 12th, a bloom report came through from the Pier in Canandaigua. Upon further investigation, it did not appear to be cyanobacteria harmful algal bloom (cyanoHAB), so the report was left marked as “suspicious”.

As we transition into late August and September, we continue to closely monitor reports coming in to look for that first official bloom.
The average surface water temperature as reported by Secchi disk volunteers is a little more than 2 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than this time last year. Volunteers are tracking the temperatures of both surface waters and waters below the surface at one-meter intervals down to 50 meters as part of CLWA’s temperature at depth study. In a future update, we will share more information from this study, which tracks thermocline depth (the transition layer between upper warmer waters and cooler waters below). For further reading on this project led by CLWA board member and volunteer Joel Pasternack, read this article from the spring.

Overall, it was a beautiful week on Canandaigua Lake, and we hope you had time to enjoy!

Please continue to use your visual indicators to look for signs of active blooms such as surface streaking, or a pea soup-like appearance of the water. Please email HABs@canandaigualakeassoc.org with any questions.