7/21/2024
Wt Staff
 WEEKEND WATER REPORT
Sunday, July 21 2024
WT HAB Tracker: New update covers 5 States
July 21, 2024 1151 am EDT
Lake Champlain and Lake Erie are illuminated for WT readers with new satellite images captured Saturday July 20. Changes to these HABs over a 24 hour period between snapshots described in the report below.
WT HAB Tracker from state sources and where available, the satellite monitoring program of the NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science
New York
The latest upload of Lake Champlain snapped by Copernicus-Sentinel IIIa snapped yesterday July 20 shows the Baie Missisquoi HAB with smaller hot spots compared to the image snapped 24 hours earlier. The appearance of this widespread HAB in the northeast changed dramatically late in the week, both in the southward expansion and in escalation of concentration in the original site. The northeast hot spots are still distinct and separate, both are smaller than they appeared July 19. One hot spot is near the Canadian shoreline in the northeast and the other hot spot at US shoreline of Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge, each maintaining the extreme high concentration 2-3 million cells per 100 ml. The open water area between hot spots is also high concentration 1 million cells per 100 ml. The mass has expanded further south in this recent image, the south extent has not moved beyond the north end of North Hero Island, concentration has not changed, maintaining 800 thousand cells per 100 ml.
From the NYS HABs reporting center, eighty-three HABs are confirmed for interior freshwater lakes Sunday, down from eighty-five this time yesterday. Two new HAB reports are confirmed overnight for Ellicott Creek. See bluegreen tags on the map to the right, the full list of water bodies impacted is found here.
Louisiana: The latest upload from the NCCOS was caught July 20 at surface wind speed 3.3 mph. This image is completely cloud obscured, not a single water body visible. The image from July 19 was mostly cloud obscured, offering a view of Bayou Perot to Black Bay only. See the latest HAB report for Louisiana here.
California: The weekly HAB postings report from California Water Boards came out Friday July 19, just one HAB DANGER alert on the list, this being San Antonio Lake in Monterey County. Three beaches are posted with HAB WARNINGS including south Pyramid Lake near the dam, Santee Lake #7 near the campground and the pond in Heritage Park. Both degrees of beach alert, HAB DANGER and HAB WARNING signage carry the caption "Toxins from the algae in this water can harm humans and kill animals". Caution alerts have been issued for 23 locations, and algal mat awareness alerts for another six sites, visual observations are reported for three more sites. Danger and Warning postings are marked with bluegreen tags on the map, caution advisories are being updated on the report. For the latest report, click here.
Ohio: The latest image of Lake Erie west basin was captured July 20 at moderate wind speed 6.9 mph, another clear beautiful image. The big change over 24 hours is the expansion of HAB spilled out of Sandusky Bay now filling the open water in a band 2 to 5 nm wide extended lakeside of Cedar Point up past the east shore of Kelleys Island. This east HAB presents with a moderate concentration 100 thousand cells per 100 ml. The Maumee Bay HAB is seen occupying all the water in a solid block starting from Maumee Bay, running 15 nm up the Michigan shore and 15 to 17 nm plus into the lake. The south edge runs along the Ohio shoreline from Maumee Bay State Park, around Cedar Point National Wildlife Refuge, narrowing to a band along shore to Camp Perry, dwindling to localized HABs as far as Port Clinton. The hot spot in this HAB remains centered at North Maumee Bay at 1 million cells per 100 ml. The lakewide Sandusky Bay bloom hangs on at 700 thousand cells per 100 ml from Pickerel Point to Cedar Point. The last Ohio HAB report is available here.
Georgia: Jekyll Island's beaches have tested clear for bacteria in the latest update from Coastal Health Region. Two permanent advisories remain, even though these beaches have returned results below the threshhold in the last quarterly test, July 1. No new information has been found on the presence of HABs in Georgia. Georgia Environmental Protection Division takes reports on suspicious algal blooms, so far in 2024 there have been no such reports logged. The Georgia Healthy Beaches program of Coastal Public Health tests beaches for bacteria, posting permanent and temporary advisories to warn the public. The latest Georgia beach advisories are available here.
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.
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.
Harmful Algal Blooms: 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.
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