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1/5/2026
WT Staff
 Got water questions? Give us a call at 877-52-WATER (877-529-2837), or email us at info@wtny.us
Tuesday, January 6, 2026 1050 pm EST
HABs confirmed in 196 water bodies in New York State, nearly half of these were new in 2025
HAB mitigation strategies to protect drinking water sources, from the Soil and Water Conservation office and private industry
Bluegreen algae growth in North America continues a long-term rising trend: more blooms, occurring in more locations with increasing frequency and duration everywhere. The noxious growth generates toxins of serious concern for humans, pets, livestock and wildlife. For this reason, drinking water sources, ponds and recreational water bodies are monitored throughout the warm season when algae growth is most prolific. Where public water systems are supplied from surface water bodies, raw water is monitored and tested for common cyanotoxins, treated as required to ensure public safety.
Also called Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs), bluegreen algae is properly termed cyanobacteria. These ancient organisms colonize surface water, fresh and marine, diverse strains and species proliferating where dissolved nutrients are found in excess. Cyanobacteria may appear as a thick foam or scum piled up along the shoreline, appearing as spilled paint, or looking like grass clippings in open water. The bloom floats on calm days and submarines below the surface on windy days, dipping out of view of satellite monitoring equipment.
In North America, HABs are monitored by public health regions, government agencies, citizen scientists and lake associations with warning signage posted on affected beaches. To assist with planning a safe beach day, and full disclosure for drinking water sources, WT publishes HAB alerts to the public in Canada and the USA, with unrestricted and free on-line access.
See WaterToday.ca Canada bluegreen algae map, here.
See WTLA.us Louisiana bluegreen algae map, here.
In 2025 WT reported another year with profuse HAB infiltration and expansion. In California, WT published weekly reports from CA Water Boards, including frequent blooms in Pyramid and Clear Lakes. In Louisiana, WT published updates on the progression and concentration of HABs in Lake Pontchartrain, Black Bay, Lac des Allemands and more, as seen in daily satellite imaging from the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS). In Ohio, WT reported the widespread HAB parked in Sandusky Bay and the roving Lake Erie HAB, from the same satellite tracking program, NCCOS. In 2025, Georgia residents reported to WTGA.us the first bluegreen blooms spotted in Lake Hartwell, along with HABs returning to the Chattahoochee River. In Canada, HABs returned to the cooler northern waters in May and persisted through to October, extending the long term trend of increasing numbers of blooms and season of longer duration in 2025.
In New York, WT published reports consolidated by the Department of Environmental Conservation, (NYDEC). During the 2025 season, HABs were reported in 196 NY lakes, ponds and rivers. Reports came in for 81 new water bodies, not impacted by HABs in the prior season. This indicates a considerable expansion of cyanobacteria to previously untouched waters, or, it could be that more people are becoming aware and reporting.
New York State HAB monitoring season runs from April or May to mid November each year. Reports are collected daily during the monitoring season, received from government departments, lake associations, volunteers and the general public, confirmed and posted on a notification board online. WT publishes the DEC confirmed reports on the front page map, with a weekly tally of the impacted water bodies, tracking total blooms reported over the season. As the monitoring program wrapped up in 2025, 28 active HABs remained, up from sixteen blooms left on the board at the end of the 2024 season. This indicates the continuity of concern, as seen elsewhere in North America: more HABs, in diverse locations, lasting longer. Six HABs endured in the small lakes and ponds of NYC and Long Island; 16 blooms remained active in the Finger Lakes region into mid November. See the full final NY HAB report for 2025, here.
Upstream mitigation of HABs
In November 2025, the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) invested over 1 million dollars in grant funding for projects to reduce phosphates entering the transboundary lakes, source of drinking water for many millions on both sides of the border. New York's Ontario County Soil and Water Conservation received $200,000 for mitigation projects in the Genesee River East watershed, to curb nutrient runoff to Lake Ontario. Tucker K. works with landowners and farmers in Ontario County, one of the top dairy producing regions of NYS. Dairy manure is a natural source of phosphate that can impact waterways if it is not managed effectively. According to Tucker, most dairy farms here and throughout the Finger Lakes region, heavily impacted by HABs, are progressive in their waste management. In spite of forward thinking managers, the Finger Lakes do have a serious HAB problem, 821 blooms confirmed in nine lakes in 2025.
See a related article, WT CWA CrimeBox, NC Dept of Ag Director sentenced to home detention, found responsible for dairy manure spill contaminating drinking water source for a million people, here.
For the most part, the Ontario County Soil and Water Conservation office is concerned about preventing phosphate loss through managing erosion. This is the way nutrient leaching has been handled here for fifty years, according to Tucker. Phosphate is mobilized toward Lake Ontario in the form of suspended sediments from creek-bed erosion and washouts caused by fast rains. Tucker says the number of serious rainfall events has been increasing in the last decade. More farmers are coming forward each year seeking assistance from the County to repair erosion and stabilize water runs.
Tucker says the funding from GLRI will be matched with State and federal dollars, invested in earthworks, shoring up field erosion, planting turf in the water runs to slow the loss of nutrients. Tucker explains, he is an implementer of works. If there is another way to go about it, if research points to another solution, it is welcome.
Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has also opened up to suggestions for keeping excess agricultural and soil nutrients out of Lake Erie. The Maumee River Watershed drains northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan to Lake Erie. Up to 70% of the surface area in this watershed is farm land; manure stored up over the winter months from extensive confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) is spread heavily on the low-lying, tile-drained fields each spring. Ohio EPA has been tasked with the lion's share of work to protect the water quality in Lake Erie, the primary drinking water source for 12 million people in the US and Canada. In recorded public presentations on the Total Maximum Daily Load Plan for the Maumee River Watershed, OEPA asked for ideas to prevent nutrient leaching.
Larry Green, MD, PhD. manufactures Zero Waste systems for farms, residential developments and municipalities in the USA. The BokashiCycle system ferments ordinary kitchen organic waste, generating valuable byproducts for growing crops. The process diverts tons of waste from landfills, one source of phosphorous and nitrates that feed HABs in the lakes.
Dr. Green's background in biochemistry and microbiology influences the way he understands the nutrient leaching problem. Referencing the interaction between phosphorous and the microscopic life in the soil, Dr. Green says protecting the lakes requires consideration of electro-statics and local geo-hydrology. Chemically sterilized soil needs to be revitalized with the beneficial microbes derived from fermentation of organic matter, restoring the soil's natural ability to infiltrate and store heavy rainfall without eroding.
Protecting water quality with chemistry, according to Green, means the specific form of the nutrient matters. The most reactive form of phosphorous carries a negative charge, making it eager to bind with water and travel downstream to the lakes. The key to preventing nutrient loss from the soil has to do with changing the charge. Mineralization, Green explains, is a function of electrostatics that can be manipulated, engineered by the farm or municipal waste manager. By altering the form of the nutrient, the farm can retain its benefits in the soil to promote crop production.
The process of fermentation reduces nutrient-rich manure to a stable, slow release form, ideal for supporting crop growth in a biologically active soil. Fermentation occurs in the absence of oxygen, and does not generate heat like the combustion reaction that occurs with composting. The lower temperature and lower pH conditions of the ferment eliminate harmful pathogens like e.coli, making it safe for spreading on the field. The entire process can be completed in two weeks and minimal investment.
Conquering HABs at the lake
Until the upstream land management has managed to eliminate the excess nutrient leaching, Clean Water Pro is ready to go to work cleaning up ponds and smaller lakes that have become overwhelmed with bluegreen algae. Lynn Melvin started the algae mitigation business in Manitoba, Canada in 2008, experimenting with different products and equipment to control algae in back yard fish ponds. By 2012, Melvin had worked out the most effective combination of beneficial microbes, phosphate binding agents and oxygenation equipment to recover water quality, and took the business out to commercial clients, including campgrounds and municipalities. The process involves dropping an aeration device, a diffuser plate down very near the bottom of the water body, where dissolved oxygen is released to impact the top layer of sediment, circulating oxygen from bottom to surface and back down the water column. The service includes an in-house lab to analyze water samples and identify the species of HABs present.
To effectively mitigate a water body, Melvin says it is important to track and identify what is going on upstream. Tributaries draining to the target water body are tested, along with nutrient pollution point sources, such as concentrated livestock operations within the drainage basin. Melvin says she prefers to work on the smaller lakes, however can accommodate a reactive or preventative treatment plan for water bodies up to 1000 acres in area. Health Canada has authorized a research project in Manitoba's Lake Minnewasta, a drinking water source and recreation site of 300 acres and up to 25 feet deep. The work will continue as long as HABs continue to infest the lakes. Melvin says she is not opposed to taking her show on the road to New York, even to Manhattan's iconic Lake in Central Park, or any of the smaller lakes of Long Island, plagued with bluegreen every summer.
Simcoe Muskoka Health Region in the heart of eastern Canada's cottage country notes the possible effects of bluegreen algae. When lakes are impacted with HABs, contact with the water is to be avoided. From the health advice provided on Simcoe Muskoka website:
It's possible to get sick if people swim, wade, or play in or near contaminated water, drink contaminated water, eat contaminated fish, shellfish, or supplements.
Exposure to water contaminated with cyanobacteria may cause:
- Stomach pain, headache, vomiting, diarrhea
- Neurological symptoms such as muscle weakness or dizziness
- In severe cases, liver damage may occur
- Skin, eye, nose, throat, or lung irritation
Animals can get sick or die from drinking contaminated water. Dogs are especially sensitive, be aware of the surroundings, check for warning signage and if you see the bloom, scum on the shore, do not allow your pets off the leash to contact the algae mat. If a pet does come into contact with bluegreen algae, be alert for the signs of illness including vomiting, loss of balance and/or labored breathing. Wash pets immediately with clean water if exposed and seek veterinary care.
Maximum Contaminant Limits (MCL) for cyanotoxins in recreational water and raw drinking water vary by jurisdiction. Canada is the most accepting of cyanotoxins; the State of California is by far the most HAB cautious. Considering exposure from all sources, long term bioaccumulation effects, CA sets safe limit guidelines at an order of magnitude more stringent than the USA national guideline. See the cyanotoxin safe thresholds for USA and Canada, here.
Algal Toxin Test Kits for Citizens
National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) working with private industry has released a rapid test for testing toxins in shellfish. Harmful algae in the genus Pseudonitzschia produce domoic acid, a toxin known to bioaccumulate in the food chain. According to California Water Boards, "Humans are exposed to domoic acid through consumption of tainted shellfish or crabs. NOAA researchers have partnered with private industry to develop a test kit to detect domoic acid in razor clams, an important food source for many coastal residents in the Pacific Northwest and provide income for Native Americans. The rapid, simple, and inexpensive test allows frequent monitoring of shellfish to determine if they are safe to harvest."
Salofa is a technical company in Finland with a patented test for microcystins. The test can be performed on site, delivers results in 20 minutes, and does not require advanced skills training and/or equipment. The test kit is compact, not much bigger than a mobile phone, fitting in a backpack or picnic basket. The instructions are straight forward; gloves and a sample collection container are provided. Following a brief period of processing, a drop from the sample is transferred to the test wand, which indicates if toxins are present, sensitive to 1 part per billion.
Hazardous algae blooms (HABs) not only foul the water; the contaminating toxins may be transmitted via air, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
The National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH) is conducting a research study, Cyanotoxins in Air STudy (CAST). This study is assessing the health effects of cyanotoxins among people who live or work on:
- Lake Okeechobee
- St. Lucie River
- Caloosahatchee River
- Cape Coral Canals
The CAST program is researching whether the cyanotoxins can get into our bodies through the air we breathe. WT has requested a preliminary report, more to follow.
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