7/26/2024
WT Staff
 July 26, 2024 updated 522 pm EDT
HAPPENING NOW
Friday, July 26 2024
Algal toxin alerts, high bacteria advisories, are they seen and followed?
Do beach-goers follow the public health postings and advice warning about HABs? WT has reached out to the North American Observatory on Health Systems and Policies at the University of Toronto for insight into how the various health agencies manage public safety around cyanobacteria blooms and toxins. Beach advisories and posting of alerts on beaches is a Department of Health responsibility, we want to know how this is done in each state, province or region, and how it is going. Are swimmers aware of the presence of HABs, the risk of contact with the water or scum? Is the public safety messaging for recreational water working? More to follow.
WT HAB Tracker from state sources and where available, the satellite monitoring program of the NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science
Lake Erie: Ohio, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania and Ontario, Canada:
Lake Erie is the shallowest basin of the Great Lakes, the west basin is the shallowest part of Lake Erie, making it especially prone to HAB. The higher water temperatures and abundance of nutrients fed into the lake from the surrounding landscape promotes the growth of cyanobacteria every year. Lake Erie is the drinking water source for twelve and a half million people in the USA and Canada, also a recreational attraction with dozens of popular beaches, boating and sailing enthusiasts on the water.
Twenty-three Ohio beaches are currently posted with recreational health advisories, five of these being for algal toxin and eighteen for high bacteria. The full list of Lake Erie and other Ohio lakes beaches under advisory are found in the Ohio HAB Tracker report, updates are in progress.
The latest satellite view from NCCOS offers a clear view of the HAB completely blanketing the southwest quarter of Lake Erie's west basin. The HAB occupies the water from Maumee Bay 15 nautical miles up the Michigan shoreline, extends another 15 nm into open water in a 225 square mile block. The south extent of the bloom covers Maumee Bay State Park, the beach here currently under algal toxin advisory, runs 15 nm along the Ohio shoreline. The majority of this HAB is around 300 thousand cells per 100 ml concentration. North Maumee Bay remains the hot spot of this mass, around 1 million cells per 100 ml.
Sandusky Bay HAB is mostly cloud obscured in this image, we do see the density of the inner bay has increased from dispersed clumps back to a solid mat from Pickerel Point to OH-269 bridge. The last completely clear view was July 20, the outer bay area filled with HAB, seen spilling out into the open water of Lake Erie approaching the raw drinking water intake for 90 thousand people served by Sandusky City water. Sandusky City has not so far detected toxins above the minimum reporting level. Updates are in progress, see our latest Ohio HAB report here.
New York The latest upload of Lake Champlain was captured July 25, too cloud obscured for observation of the widespread high concentration bloom in Baie Missisquoi. The prior image was clear enough, July 24 we see the north half of the bay densely occupied with HAB, a small hotspot near the east shore toward the north end of the water body hovers around 2 million cells per 100 ml concentration. High concentration HABs such as this one have produced toxins well above the US EPA safe limit for recreational water. Just last week in Lake Erie, a HAB of much lower concentration than Baie Missisquoi HAB threw a high toxin level into the water, prompting a recreational health advisory to warn the public of the effects of microcystins poisoning. Swimmers and waders in contact with the infected water can experience skin irritation, if water is ingested the symptons include nausea and vomiting. Pets in contact with water containing the liver toxin microcystins can die.
From the NYS DEC HABs reporting center, ninety-two HABs are confirmed Friday afternoon in NYS, up from eighty-five yesterday. The list of reports is given by water body, updates are in progress now. See bluegreen tags on the map to the right, the full list of water bodies impacted is found here.
Louisiana: A clear snapshot of southeast Louisiana at last! The latest upload from the NCCOS July 24 is completely cloud obscured. The last image with any view of the southeast water bodies was caught July 25 at surface wind speed 4.7 mph. This image is mostly clear with a view of Lake Pontchartrain, Lake Palourde, Lake Verret, Lac des Allemands, Bayou Fortier and more. Black Bay and Chandeleur Sound HABs are also visible, lower in extent than last observed. Updates are in progress, see our last report here.
California: The weekly update from California Water Boards is out with twenty-one DANGER-level alerts, seven HAB WARNING postings. Clear Lake, Lake Elsinore, Lake Anza, Contra Loma Reservoir posted ahead of the weekend; the HAB WARNINGS apply to Clear Lake, Pyramid Lake south water near the dam, Santee Lake #7 near the campground and a pond in Heritage Park, San Diego County. These advisories warn to avoid all contact with this water.
HAB DANGER and WARNING advisories can be found on the map with bluegreen tags. All advisories, including Caution and algal mat general awareness advisories are being updated now, for the latest report click here.
Georgia:
Georgia Healthy Beaches program of Coastal Public Health tests beaches, posting permanent and temporary advisories about bacteria levels. Jekyll Island has two permanent advisories in place, both beaches tested clear for bacteria in the last quarterly water sample. As of this report, all St Simons Island and Jekyll Island beaches are marked with the green light signal, no temporary advisories are issued for elevated bacteria. No new information has been found on the presence of HABs in Georgia since our last update. Georgia Environmental Protection Division does accept reports from the public of suspicious algal blooms. As we receive updates from EPD, the results will be found here. The latest Georgia beach advisories are available here.
See the North American drainage basin map here, scroll all the way down to see how surface water moves across the continent into the Pacific, Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico and Arctic Oceans. WT Media Group tells the story of water in three countries, Canada, USA and Mexico. See the drinking water advisories, hazardous spills, floods, drought and harmful algal blooms plotted on the maps, as the water flows. Check out the CrimeBox for historic prosecutions under the Clean Water Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act box for details on public drinking water facilities, interviews with the scientists and tech developers on the leading edge of clean water technology here.
As many drinking water facilities are supplied from surface water reservoirs, the streamflow situation is pertinent to both drinking water supply and quality. High flows can stir up sediment and cause turbidity in the reservoirs, requiring additional treatments to render the water potable. Low flow volume is linked to warmer temperatures in the reservoir and can be an issue for water quality where HABs are present. WT tracks streamflow trends with an eye to the impacts on drinking water supply and quality in each of the state's watersheds. Check the watershed layer on the map to see the direction of flow and streamflows that may be impacting drinking water today.
USGS Provisional Data Statement
Data are provisional and subject to revision until they have been thoroughly reviewed and received final approval. Current condition data relayed by satellite or other telemetry are automatically screened to not display improbable values until they can be verified.
Provisional data may be inaccurate due to instrument malfunctions or physical changes at the measurement site. Subsequent review based on field inspections and measurements may result in significant revisions to the data.
Data users are cautioned to consider carefully the provisional nature of the information before using it for decisions that concern personal or public safety or the conduct of business that involves substantial monetary or operational consequences. Information concerning the accuracy and appropriate uses of these data or concerning other hydrologic data may be obtained from the USGS.
Harmful Algal Blooms: WT follows the movement and growth of harmful algal blooms (HABs) as provided by the satellite monitoring program of the NCCOS for New York's Lake Champlain, Ohio's Lake Erie and Louisiana's Lake Pontchartrain and surrounding area. Interpretation of satellite images is best in clear conditions at wind speed less than 4 mph, where the appearance and extent of HABs is reliably matched to a color scale for concentration. HABs are known to produce algal toxins of concern for raw drinking water sources and recreational water bodies. Plan beach access to avoid HABs and consider carrying a rapid test kit to detect the toxin microcystins.
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