A harmful algal bloom inundates the water in the Owasco Lake outlet behind the Express Mart in Fleming on Sept. 19.
The Citizen file


Save Owasco Now!, a lake advocacy group started in the fall last year, will hold another meeting to discuss harmful algal blooms at 6 p.m. Monday, Oct. 2 in Conference Room 2 of Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES, 1879 W. Genesee St. Road, Aurelius.

Guest speaker Walter Hang, president of the environmental firm Toxics Targeting, will speak about a new initiative requiring the state to address and eliminate harmful algal blooms in the state's impaired water bodies, according to a release.

The organization continues to advocate for a Total Maximum Daily Load on Owasco Lake, a kind of pollution diet the state may implement for an impaired water body. That's despite Cayuga County's already advanced undertaking of a Nine Elements Plan, which is similar to a TMDL. The state Department of Environmental Conservation has said a Nine Elements Plan is a better fit for the water body.

Save Owasco Now! continues to collect signatures on a letter to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, requesting a TMDL adoption within two years of each impaired water body that has experienced harmful algal blooms and threats to drinking water.

"The pace of your administration's clean up efforts is woefully inadequate," the letter reads. As of Thursday morning, 406 people had signed the letter online.

Those with questions may contact member Patty Beer at saveowasconow@gmail.com.