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Harmful Algal Blooms Threaten NY Water Bodies
Harmful Algal Bloom on Cayuga Lake 2017
An environmental database company says toxic algae threatens public recreational and drinking water sources around New York.
Algae blooms have been particularly insistent this year, according to a statewide map and database released by Ithaca-based Toxics Targeting. Company president Walter Hang says he has been engaged in a 19-year battle to clean up harmful algal blooms in Southern Cayuga Lake in the Finger Lakes. "In August there was a huge cyanobacteria bloom, and this is what they used to call 'blue-green algae.' So run-of-the-mill algae is problematic because it can impair the water for bathing and for boating and for fishing and things like that. But these cyanobacteria release neurotoxins, which are incredibly threatening to public health."
- Don’t swim, wade or fish near blooms or surface scum
- Don’t drink the water
- Keep children and animals away from any blooms or scums
- Rinse with clean water if exposed
- Consider medical attention if you have symptoms of nausea, vomiting or diarrhea, skin, eye or throat irritation, allergic reaction or breathing difficulties
- Report symptoms to the health department
Hang blames various toxins including farm waste and industrial runoff with triggering the neurotoxin-releasing blooms now proliferating. " Skaneateles Lake, Owasco Lake has another huge problem, and then essentially it's threatening the drinking water for the city of Rochester, Syracuse, it's just really unprecedented."
Also on Toxics Targeting's list: Round Lake, Nassau Lake, Saratoga Lake, Lawson Lake and the city of Albany's backup water source Basic Reservoir, which city water commissioner Joe Coffey says has a relatively high concentration of nutrients nitrogen and phosphorus, a result of runoff from surrounding by farmland. "Our primary water supply is the Alcove Reservoir, and we're blessed that the Alcove is a very large, relatively pure water body. It's much deeper and much larger than the Basic Creek Reservoir, and I think the fact that we don't have as much agricultural land use in the watershed for the Alcove, that's one of the reasons we don't seem to have these HAB's in the Alcove. We can divert water from the Basic to the Alcove when we choose to do so, and we would generally never direct water from the Basic to the Alcove this time of year."
The algal problem is also apparent in New York City's Central Park Lake. Hang says 65 water bodies across New York now have harmful blooms. "The most important thing for people to recognize is that this kind of algae is very, very visually striking. The bright green or pea green color... No one should touch this material, they shouldn't let their pets walk around in the water or drink the water."
A state Department of Environmental Conservation spokesman says the agency has been working tirelessly to correct the problems.
Hang adds just because water may look OK a few days after an algal bloom, the potent neurotoxins are likely still present. "We have in New York a total of 219 waters that are on a national registry of impaired water bodies called 303d. And more than half of those waters are on this registry because of excessive nutrients. And the problem is that the pace of cleanup is just glacial."
Click here to download this map as a PDF (9.9 MB)
Waterbodies with Harmful Algal Blooms Notifications
*Blooms in large lakes or rivers may be limited to specific shorelines or confined bays. Portions of any of these waterbodies may be clear and fully support recreational uses.
Click here to download this table as a PDF (2.12 MB)
NYSDEC Harmful Algal Blooms Program Archive Summary
2012-2016
Algae blooms threaten NY waterways
ALBANY, N.Y. (18 NEWS) - According to data released by an environmental group on Wednesday, the drinking water for hundreds of thousands in upstate New York could be threatened by the growth of Harmful Algal Blooms.
“These problems simply have not been cleaned up in nearly 20 years,” Walter Hang, President of Toxics Targeting Inc., said.
Toxics Targeting, an environmental group out of Ithaca, released a statewide map that shows the growth of harmful algal blooms in over 200 lakes and streams, allegedly threatening the drinking water for residents in Albany, Syracuse, Rochester and more.
“The next thing you know, a large body of water will literally look like pea soup.”
These algal blooms are caused by many different toxins including industrial and even farm waste run-off. These blooms release neurotoxins which in high doses, could cause health problems if consumed.
There are ways to get rid of the harmful algal blooms, but it takes extensive treatments using carbon filtering. According to Toxics Targeting, the problem is not being addressed by the state.
“The longstanding problem that New York has failed to resolve. They simply have not enforced the Clean Water Act.”
“We need to figure what we need to target to prevent those blooms from happening. Once they happen treatment is very difficult,” Jacqueline Lendrum, Director of the Bureau of Water Assessment and Management for the DEC, said.
The Department of Environmental Conservation, or the DEC, says it is are working to address the source of contamination, but it has not grown to the point where people need to find an alternative water source, such as bottled water.
“We’ll notify the public if there is any risk to their drinking water supply,” Dr. Lendrum said.
If you do spot blue-green algae in your waterways, do not touch or drink it. Immediately contact the DEC or someone in your local government.
“Don’t swim in them, don’t let your dog swim in them, don’t let your kids play in them, don’t even boat in them,” Dr. Lendrum said. If you see it avoid it and call us because it can be toxic.”
Algae toxins appear in Skaneateles Lake drinking water, Owasco Lake's untreated water
A harmful algae bloom inundates the water in the Owasco Lake outlet behind the Express Mart in Fleming on Tuesday.
Kevin Rivoli, The Citizen
Low levels of harmful algae toxins were detected in some drinking water distributed from Skaneateles Lake, according to a statement from the state Department of Health, Onondaga County Health Department and the city of Syracuse Department of Water on Wednesday. Meanwhile, toxin and chlorophyll levels in Owasco Lake's blooms are high, though the city of Auburn and town of Owasco's treatment systems appear to be keeping the drinking water clear.
Samples collected from Skaneateles Tuesday night showed toxin levels at 0.25 micrograms per liter after Monday's tests showed 0.26. That's close to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's health advisory guideline for those with compromised immune systems, the elderly and children under the age of six, 0.3 micrograms per liter. That advisory, however, extends over a 10-day period, and this is the first day toxins have been detected. Therefore, officials have said, the water is safe to drink.
The toxin detection came from the village of Skaneateles' water sample. Down the pipeline, testing showed no detectable levels of toxins for the city of Syracuse, town of Dewitt, town of Skaneateles, the village of Elbridge and the village of Jordan, according to the joint statement.
Superintendent of Skaneateles Schools Ken Slentz notified parents and community members over Facebook Wednesday that the drinking fountains in each of the district's buildings are shut down. Slentz said the school will provide students and staff with bottled water.
Residents who receive public water from the city of Syracuse, the village of Jordan, the village of Elbridge and the town and village of Skaneateles get their drinking water from Skaneateles Lake. Six water districts from the town of Elbridge get their water from the lake including Hart Lot, West Elbridge, Crossett Road 1 and 2 and Sandbank Road, said Elbridge Town Supervisor Ken Bush. Water customers along Gorham Road, Kingston Road, Hamilton Road North and Jordan-Elbridge Road do, too, he added.
Cayuga County Health Department Director Kathleen Cuddy said seven households in the town of Sennett on Depot Road get their water from a public supply through the lake, too. About 210 households in the towns of Niles and Sempronius draw directly from Skaneateles Lake, Cuddy added, according to the health department's septic system inspection records. The department is sending out fliers to those residences with more information.
DOH Deputy Commissioner Brad Hutton was in Syracuse Wednesday working with local officials and water operators. Unlike Auburn and Owasco's treatment plants, the city of Syracuse does not use a filtration system. It does use chlorine to disinfect, however, and Hutton said the city was ramping up its usage to treat the toxins.
Though chlorine causes the algae cells to break and release the toxins, Hutton said optimized levels of chlorine and contact time can oxidize the toxins, too. Water operators are working closely with DOH to not only monitor the algae but also the levels of chlorine. Too much chlorine can also cause health complications, but Hutton said water operators are monitoring the levels at multiple points throughout the water system and boosting the water flow where needed.
"We're going to be working closely with the county for the foreseeable future," Hutton said in a phone interview with The Citizen. "The situation with the blooms on the lake will certainly warrant daily testing. Whether we're here on site, or not, we're still working closely and communicating those results to the public."
Scientists at the DOH's Albany lab the Wadsworth Center, he added, have been working at all hours conducting tests for multiple lakes and water bodies. The drinking water from Skaneateles, he said, is a priority and the center is handling it accordingly.
Cuddy said while it's unfortunate that Owasco Lake was the first to experience harmful algal bloom toxins in the drinking water, her department has been able to share its knowledge with surrounding county health departments, including Onondaga County.
Meanwhile, water from Owasco Lake entering the city of Auburn's treatment plant showed detectable levels of the toxin at 0.18 micrograms per liter, according to the Cayuga County Health Department's latest test results from samples collected on Monday. No toxins were detected in the treated drinking water, nor were they detected in the raw or treated water at the town of Owasco's plant.
Cuddy said the department is sticking to testing the water three times per week, only going to daily testing if toxins were detected in the drinking water. Samples were collected Wednesday and sent to the Wadsworth Center. She hopes to have those results by Thursday morning. The department plans to collect additional samples on Friday.
Both the town and the city activated their algae toxin treatment systems on Friday after a plethora of blooms over the last several days in Owasco Lake. Latest test results of those blooms on the Owasco Lake Watershed Inspection Program's page showed extremely high levels of chlorophyll a in samples collected on Sunday and Monday. Chlorophyll a is considered one of the indicators for harmful algal blooms.
On Sunday, chlorophyl a levels off of Peterson Point in Fleming were more than 1,800 times the DEC's threshold of 25 micrograms per liter to confirm a bloom. Nearly identical levels were found off of Lindenwood Cove on Monday. Toxin levels were still not available as of Wednesday afternoon.
Meanwhile an Ithaca-based environmental firm held a news conference in Albany on Wednesday to discuss harmful algal blooms. In a release, President of Toxics Targeting Walter Hang blasted the state Department of Environmental Conservation claiming that the agency has known about pollution hazards in multiple water bodies, and has failed to remedy them.
"New Yorkers should be appalled by the State Department of Environmental Conservation's shocking inability to safeguard critical drinking water sources from massive Harmful Algal Blooms which endanger public health," Hang said in a release. "New York is facing a drinking water pollution crisis of unprecedented proportions."
Jackie Lendrum, a research scientist with the DEC's Division of Water, said the DEC's approach is to develop solutions based on science. She pointed to the DEC's work on creating a Total Maximum Daily Load, a kind of pollution diet, for Cayuga Lake. The DEC is also working with Cayuga County on creating a Nine Elements Plan, similar to a TMDL, for Owasco Lake.
"At the end of the day, it comes back to sound science," she said. "We let science be our guide and come up with the most effective management strategy."
Algae blooms threaten NY waterways
ALBANY, N.Y. (WROC-TV) - According to data released by an environmental group on Wednesday, the drinking water for hundreds of thousands in upstate New York could be threatened by the growth of Harmful Algal Blooms.
“These problems simply have not been cleaned up in nearly 20 years,” Walter Hang, President of Toxics Targeting Inc., said.
Toxics Targeting, an environmental group out of Ithaca, released a statewide map that shows the growth of harmful algal blooms in over 200 lakes and streams, allegedly threatening the drinking water for residents in Albany, Syracuse, Rochester, and more.
“The next thing you know, a large body of water will literally look like pea soup.”
These algal blooms are caused by many different toxins including industrial and even farm waste run-off. These blooms release neurotoxins which in high doses, could cause health problems if consumed.
There are ways to get rid of the harmful algal blooms, but it takes extensive treatments using carbon filtering. According to Toxics Targeting, the problem is not being addressed by the state.
“The longstanding problem that New York has failed to resolve. They simply have not enforced the Clean Water Act.”
“We need to figure what we need to target to prevent those blooms from happening. Once they happen treatment is very difficult,” Jacqueline Lendrum, Director of the Bureau of Water Assessment and Management for the DEC, said.
The Department of Environmental Conservation, or the DEC, says it is working to address the source of contamination, but it has not grown to the point where people need to find an alternative water source, such as bottled water.
“We’ll notify the public if there is any risk to their drinking water supply,” Dr. Lendrum said.
If you do spot blue-green algae in your waterways, do not touch or drink it. Immediately contact the DEC or someone in your local government.
“Don’t swim in them, don’t let your dog swim in them, don’t let your kids play in them, don’t even boat in them,” Dr. Lendrum said. If you see it avoid it and call us because it can be toxic.”
Click here for a full list of impacted waterways on the DEC's website.
Algae blooms threaten NY waterways
ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) – According to data released by an environmental group on Wednesday, the drinking water for hundreds of thousands in upstate New York could be threatened by the growth of Harmful Algal Blooms.
“These problems simply have not been cleaned up in nearly 20 years,” Walter Hang, President of Toxics Targeting Inc., said.
Toxics Targeting, an environmental group out of Ithaca, released a statewide map that shows the growth of harmful algal blooms in over 200 lakes and streams, allegedly threatening the drinking water for residents in Albany, Syracuse, Rochester and more.
“The next thing you know, a large body of water will literally look like pea soup.”
These algal blooms are caused by many different toxins including industrial and even farm waste run-off. These blooms release neurotoxins which in high doses, could cause health problems if consumed.
There are ways to get rid of the harmful algal blooms, but it takes extensive treatments using carbon filtering. According to Toxics Targeting, the problem is not being addressed by the state.
“The longstanding problem that New York has failed to resolve. They simply have not enforced the Clean Water Act.”
“We need to figure what we need to target to prevent those blooms from happening. Once they happen treatment is very difficult,” Jacqueline Lendrum, Director of the Bureau of Water Assessment and Management for the DEC, said.
The Department of Environmental Conservation, or the DEC, says it is are working to address the source of contamination, but it has not grown to the point where people need to find an alternative water source, such as bottled water.
“We’ll notify the public if there is any risk to their drinking water supply,” Dr. Lendrum said.
If you do spot blue-green algae in your waterways, do not touch or drink it. Immediately contact the DEC or someone in your local government.
“Don’t swim in them, don’t let your dog swim in them, don’t let your kids play in them, don’t even boat in them,” Dr. Lendrum said. If you see it avoid it and call us because it can be toxic.”