SLPWA: No algae blooms in Seneca Lake yet

No news, in this case, is good news.

The first week of monitoring the shores of Seneca Lake for Harmful Algal Blooms — or HABs — has turned up no blooms as of Aug. 11.

But the Seneca Lake Pure Waters Association warns that HABs didn’t start being observed last summer until Sept. 4, and then were especially prevalent between Sept. 9 and 16.

SLPWA HABs Director Frank DiOrio said shoreline monitoring began Aug. 5 and will continue through Oct. 6. More than 120 trained shoreline survey volunteers are monitoring about 60 miles of Seneca Lake shoreline for HABs.

“We have one of the best monitoring and reporting systems in the state,” DiOrio said. “We use this system weekly to provide our members and the public with the best possible HABs status information we can.”

DiOrio said last year, 39 of the 41 samples collected were tested and found to be blooms, an identification rate of more than 95 percent. “If there is a bloom in there, there is a very good chance our network of volunteers will find it,” he said.