At Least 100 Cyanobacteria Blooms Reported Across Each Of Four Finger Lakes In 2024 - Worst Year Ever

AUBURN, N.Y.—Blooms of toxic cyanobacteria “exploded” across the Finger Lakes this worst-ever season, as Seneca, Canandaigua, Skaneateles and Cayuga lakes each had more than 100 reports of harmful algal blooms, or HABs. The outbreaks began in June—earlier than ever—and continued through late October. Swaths of streaky green water were widespread, plaguing the lakes for weeks at a time during the season’s peak in September.

“We have had days (in previous years) where the whole lake was ‘lit up,’ but not day after day like this year,” said Bill Roege, president of Seneca Lake Pure Waters Association. Seneca Lake reported 325 blooms this year, while Canandaigua reported 237, Skaneateles 145 and Cayuga 120, according to the Finger Lakes Regional Watershed Alliance.

The toxins produced by cyanobacteria threaten swimmers, pets and lakeshore homeowners who draw drinking water from the lakes and public water systems. On Oct. 8, the City of Auburn and the Town of Owasco reported traces of cyanotoxins in their public drinking water for the first time since 2016.

The next day no toxins were detected in either the tap water or the raw water the public systems draw from Owasco Lake, and none have been detected since. The toxins never reached levels considered a threat to public health. But the readings underscored the fact that the expensive filtering systems the city and town installed in 2017 in response to the tap water crisis in 2016 may not be up to the challenge of protecting the public. “We sit here on pins and needles (every October) waiting to see what the test results are,” said Auburn Mayor Jimmy Giannettino. “It’s one of the things that keeps me up at night.”

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https://insideclimatenews.org/news/23102024/new-york-finger-lakes-toxic-bloom-record/