7/1/2024
WT Staff
 HAPPENING NOW
Monday, July 1 2024
Happy Canada Day
July 1, 2024 1015 am EDT
Happy Canada Day
To our northern neighbors celebrating the founding of Canada on this day in 1867, to those with whom we share the Great Lakes, St. Lawrence River and many other transboundary water bodies, Happy Canada Day!
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.
HAB Tracker satellite monitoring program of the NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science
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.
New York
Lake Champlain's widespread HAB has disappeared from view in the latest satellite upload, the image captured June 30 at undetermined surface wind speed has no sign of the Baie Missisquoi HAB. The top concentration of this HAB mass reached an extreme high value June 29, appearing to match the concentration scale for 2 million cells per 100 ml in the east half of the mass. This HAB initially appeared June 25 near the northwest shore of the northeast arm near Domaine Omer-Alix on the Canadian side of the border at a relatively high concentration, around 400 thousand cells per 100 ml. More HAB reports for Lake Champlain have been confirmed in the bays of Pointe au Roche, Clinton County, NY. Forty-five HABs are confirmed for interior NYS water bodies on Monday. No new reports are confirmed today, four reports made June 16 have been archived. Get the latest NYS HAB report here.
Louisiana: Southeast LA water bodies are captured in a wide angle pass by the Copernicus-Sentinel III satellite, catching Lake Pontchartrain to Black Bay in frame. The latest image was captured June 30 at a surface wind speed 3.1 mph. Lake Pontchartrain HAB has disappeared from view in this capture, even though we can see most of the open water and shorelines, the image captured at a low wind speed, any HAB should be visible. The June 29 image showed a moderate concentration HAB near the shore of Big Branch Marsh National Wildlife Refuge in the north. This latest image is clear with a good view of most southeast water bodies. The latest HAB report for Louisiana is available here.
Ohio: Lake Erie west basin is captured by the NCCOS monitoring satellite, the latest upload taken June 30 at very high surface wind speed 25.7 mph. The image is clear showing extensive HAB activity in North Maumee Bay and up the Michigan shoreline, Sandy blazes on in Sandusky Bay and a growing HAB mass is evident on the open water side of Cedar Point. The Sandusky Bay HAB first appeared in the inner bay area near Bay View and OH-269 on June 11, since expanding to fill both inner and outer bay areas and reaching extremes of concentration 3 million cells per 100 ml not seen in this location in the 2023 season. The latest Ohio HAB report is available 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.
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