This week USGS scientists, with support from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, installed technologically advanced monitoring systems to study water-quality conditions and harmful algal blooms—known as HABs—in Owasco and Seneca lakes.
This week USGS scientists, with support from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, installed technologically advanced monitoring systems to study water-quality conditions and harmful algal blooms—known as HABs—in Owasco and Seneca lakes. In the next several weeks, instrumentation will also be installed on Skaneateles Lake.
This monitoring effort will provide a better understanding of HAB growth and severity and allow for near instantaneous detection of changing water-quality conditions that might be indicative of HAB development. This will enable state officials, water resource managers, drinking water utilities, the public and others to make more informed decisions on how to deal with HABs and develop mitigation strategies.
USGS Studies HABs and Water Quality in New York
This collaborative effort, funded by the DEC and the USGS, is in support of the state’s $65 million initiative to aggressively combat HABs in waterbodies across New York.
“Most algal blooms are harmless, but in some cases, something is triggered to overwhelm the system, which leads to potentially harmful blooms that deprive aquatic organisms of oxygen. HABs also can produce toxins that pose health threats to humans and other organisms coming into contact with them,” said Guy Foster, USGS New York HAB project lead. “USGS research capabilities are being deployed to figure out the environmental conditions and processes that result in the formation of HABs, their growth and severity. In addition, new monitoring techniques are providing near instantaneous detection of when the public could be exposed to a potentially harmful algal bloom.”
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Image via USGS.
