September is here, and has decided to kick off with a beautiful weather forecast for the upcoming Labor Day weekend! We know many of you will enjoy time with family and friends by the lake for the Ring of Fire and unofficial “end of summer” celebrations.
Regarding our current water quality conditions, there have been no CyanoHABs confirmed on Canandaigua Lake this week. Clarity is holding well in the 6-meter range, which is about a meter above this time last year. Average surface water temperature went up 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit from last week, but overall still remains cooler than the last several years at this time.
Volunteers and watershed staff continue to assess overall lake conditions. Over the last few weeks, Watershed Manager Kevin Olvany was out with a research assistant performing lake profiles using a bbe fluoroprobe, which can differentiate different types of algal classes throughout the water column – green algae, diatoms, blue green algae (cyanobacteria), among others. Findings from this week’s profiles found mostly diatoms and green algae at deeper depths (down to 75 feet of water). This data corresponds with what CLWA volunteers are finding as part of an ongoing algal study in partnership with SUNY Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) at six nearshore sites – diatoms and green algae mixed in with the occasional microcystis cluster. (The image in the gold circle demonstrates volunteers using an ioLight microscope to look at images from water samples collected as part of the ESF project).
Changes in our algal community over time show a natural transition to more cyanobacteria this time of year. However, this only really becomes an issue when the cyanobacteria has just the right environmental conditions to begin to dominate the algal makeup – resulting in harmful algal “blooms”. As we shift into September, we must remember that this is in fact the most prevalent time of year for cyanobacterial blooms on Canandaigua Lake. Hot, calm days are more favorable for rapid proliferation of cyanobacteria and resulting blooms. With this weekend’s forecast, conditions may change quickly.
Please use your visual indicators when recreating in the lake by looking for signs of active blooms such as surface streaking or a green pea soup-like appearance of the water. Please email HABs@canandaigualakeassoc.org with any questions.
We hope you have a wonderful weekend. Please remember to use your LED Flares this weekend for your Ring of Fire celebrations to help keep our lake clean of residual chemical burnoff from traditional incendiary flares! And consider honoring our local watershed history by attending the Seneca Heritage Day with special guest speaker Peter Jemison on Saturday, September 2nd from 2-4 PM at Overackers Corners Schoolhouse (details below).
Lake Foam Reports Requested
This fall, CLWA in partnership with Global Aquatic Research (GAR) will be looking to sample a lake foam event as part of a study to sample for PFAS (Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances). This is a grant-funded project through the Freshwater Future.
HERE’S HOW YOU CAN HELP.
We will be looking for the ideal lake foam to sample – the thin foam that can be found mid-lake (see photo as an example). We need crowd-sourced data to help us find this type of foam event. CLWA hosts a foam reporting link and we ask the community to please submit reports when foam is observed. The images submitted are sent to the research team in real-time, allowing for quick decision-making on the ideal event to sample.
We thank you for your support!