CANANDAIGUA, NY — The Canandaigua Lake Watershed Association and Ontario County Public Health are teaming up on social media to bring awareness of the harmful algal blooms that threaten the tourism economy and safety of people and pets that may encounter them.
By starting the #WaterWednesdays campaign this early in the summer lake season, the hope is that people become more aware of the problem before the blooms strike, which typically happens in the August and September time frame, although warming temperatures have some believing they may begin to occur earlier.
Every Wednesday, the organizations will offer insights into the health of the Finger Lakes, including Canandaigua Lake.
The two organizations began meeting a year ago to brainstorm on topics such as water purity, climate change and blue-green algae.
One thingtheyhope to accomplish is to push information throughout the summer on how to identify cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms, or cyanoHABs, said Lyndsay McMillan, association director of the Canandaigua Lake Watershed Association.
“Being that lake conditions can change daily, if not hourly, it’s important to know how to identify blooms so that we can all keep ourselves and our pets safe when a water quality issue may arise,” McMillan said in an email.
Historically, the county hasn’t ventured too far down these roads as environmental health is an issue shouldered by the state Department of Health, Ontario County Public Health Director Kate Ott said in an email.
“At this point in time, however, we think it’s important to be connected to like-minded community organizations in regard to water quality,” Ott said.
Here’s why.
Canandaigua Lake health, tourism threatened by harmful algal blooms
Tourism is a $4 billion a year business in the Finger Lakes and Canandaigua Lake is a big part of it. The lake is widely enjoyed by a huge influx of visitors, beach goers and boaters in the summer months who enjoy this natural resource, McMillan said.
Harmful algae blooms are a threat to that summertime good feeling in more ways than one.
Exposure to cyanobacteria and their toxins can occur by touching, swallowing and inhaling them during water recreation, drinking water and household use. Pets, especially dogs, are susceptible to the toxins associated with blooms as they are likely to drink surface water when swimming and may also be exposed when grooming themselves after a swim in the lake, according to information from the Canandaigua Lake Watershed Association.
If people know how to identify blue-green algae — it looks like green parallel streaks on the water surface or has a spilled paint or pea soup appearance — they can avoid it. If they know boiling lake water doesn’t remove the toxin, they won’t try this and drink toxin-laden water, Ott said.
The lakesupplies drinking water to approximately 35,000 people in the city and Ontario County towns ofBristol, Canandaigua, East Bloomfield, Farmington, Hopewell and Manchester and the village of Manchester.The harmful algae was detected in Rushville’s water supply in 2019, Ott said.
“If they know the toxin can cause illness, they’ll check for blooms before entering the water,” Ott said.
Many businesses depend on summer tourism, and a blue-green algae outbreak could put a damper on that, Ott said.
“You might say that’s not a public health problem, but it can be,” Ott said. “We know there is food insecurity in the county already. We need to keep people working so they’re not left short of groceries, medications and other necessities. Poor health is often the result of a domino effect that starts with economics.”
What you might learnfrom #WaterWednesdays
As a recent example, the organizations put together a Facebook post that provided a link to watch the PBS documentary “Bloom.”
The Canandaigua Lake Watershed Association has acoordinated network of volunteers around the lake that are trained to identify and report cyanoHABs. This year, more than 72 volunteers will participate in monitoring programs.
All the data that is collected is used by the Watershed Association and the Canandaigua Lake Watershed Council, which is a group of the municipalities on the lake, to draft and issue a weekly water quality update each Friday from July to October, giving people the most up to date information on lake health.
“This is another great resource which we will be sharing via the social media campaign this summer,” McMillan said.
The team at Ontario County Public Health has been great to work with, McMillan said, and the hope isto build on this effort so that people have easy access to information about Canandaigua Lake.
“Water is really important,” Ott said. “We can’t live without it.”
Where to find the #WaterWednesdays information
Find Ontario County on X, or Twitter as was known, at @OntarioCountyNY. Visit the Canandaigua Lake Watershed Association on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/CanandaiguaLakeWatershed/ and Ontario County at https://www.facebook.com/OntarioCountyNY/.
Mike Murphy covers Canandaigua and other communities in Ontario County and writes the Eat, Drink and Be Murphy food and drink column. Follow him on X at @MPN_MikeMurphy.
