Seneca Lake has harmful algal blooms

SENECA LAKE--Water tests at two Seneca Lake locations indicated water quality issues recently. Seneca Lake State Park had E. coli and Perry Point showed harmful algal blooms (HABs).
Results from a test at Seneca Lake State Park, Friday Aug. 24, showing 353 E. coli colonies per 100 ml, exceeded the state standard of 235 colonies. As a result, the New York State Department of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation has closed the beach.
Seneca Lake State Park qualifies as a Category 2 area, meaning it is a beach, "without sufficient resampling data or with unsatisfactory resampling data."
"At these beaches, an exceedance leads to resampling and an automatic and immediate closure, along with posting a notification of exceedance and alerting appropriate media outlets," according to the online beach results.
Scientists at the Finger Lakes Institute (FLI) at Hobart and William Smith Colleges ran tests on a water sample taken at Perry Point by a volunteer of Seneca Lake Pure Waters Association, Sunday Aug. 19. Within two days, the scientists informed the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) that the department's threshold for confirming HAB's (25 micrograms per liter of blue-green chlorophyll) had been exceeded at 392 micrograms.
The sample was collected during a 10 week Shoreline Monitoring program by Seneca Lake Pure Waters Association, from August through September. The volunteer who took the sample reported the HAB presence as "small" and "localized" in extent.
"We are grateful to have the help of over 100 dedicated volunteers, these people really care about Seneca Lake and the well being of people who utilize the lake for drinking water and recreational activities," stated Pure Waters' HAB Director Frank DiOrio.