Volunteer CyanoHABs Monitoring Program

To help us increase our understanding of the cyanobacteria dynamics in Canandaigua Lake and to provide public notification on the safety of the water, CLWA is working with the Canandaigua Lake Watershed Council (CLWC), the Finger Lakes Institute (FLI), Seneca Lake Pure Waters Association, and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYS DEC) on a Shoreline CyanoHAB (cyanobacterial harmful algal bloom) Monitoring Program.

Volunteers are trained to visually observe blooms and collect water samples for analysis on a weekly basis, from August through October, and record their findings online using a system developed by Seneca Lake Pure Waters Association. Volunteer reports and sample results help us assess overall lake conditions and allows us to send timely public notifications about our water quality during the bloom season. Findings are reported on our website, Facebook page, and in our email blasts.

All data collected through this program is shared with statewide and local researchers and contributes to the ongoing research efforts to monitor Canandaigua Lake.

2024 Volunteer CyanoHABs Monitor Resources 

Volunteers who participate in cyanoHABs monitoring are encouraged to review the online resources to familiarize themselves with the online reporting tools for the monitoring season.

2024 Interactive cyanoHAB Map for Canandaigua Lake

The interactive bloom map and volunteer program reporting is thanks to a partnership with Seneca Lake Pure Waters.

PLEASE NOTE: Water quality conditions can change daily, if not hourly. This map serves as a record of the reports that have come in this season and may not indicate current lake conditions. Please continue to use your visual indicators and look for suspicious algal activity before recreating in the lake. If no blooms are observed during the sampling week, then no markers will appear.

Map tips:

• • Reported blooms are represented by the colored dots.
    • Red dots represent a “Small Localized Bloom”
    • Blue dots represent a “Large Localized Bloom”
    • Purple dots represent a “Widespread” Bloom
  • Clicking on a dot will bring up a window with data associated with the reported bloom as well as links to any photos.

This interactive map and volunteer program reporting is thanks to a partnership with Seneca Lake Pure Waters.

How you can report suspicious blooms

Help by collecting information on blooms:

• Location (GPS coordinates, address, or geographic description of the area )
• Photos
• Description – Was it streaky, globby, thread-like, spilled paint, pea soup, scummy, silky, or have small leaves? What color was it?
• How large of an area did it cover?
• How long was it there?

Report Suspected Blooms to HABs@canandaigualakeassoc.org.

Trained Volunteers can use this link to report the activity in their zones.