ESF Monitors Waters of Sodus Bay

A crisp, clear spring morning when sunlight sparkles off the water might seem like an odd time to think about toxic algal blooms that coat the water in a thick blue-green film, but it’s precisely when researchers start water monitoring.

Toxic blue-green algal blooms in the northeastern United States typically form during the hot days of August. By keeping an eye on the water chemistry throughout the summer, researchers might be able to predict when a bloom might be coming.

Michael Satchwell, senior research support specialist at ESF, and undergraduate Matt Blake deployed three buoys in Sodus Bay in early May to monitor water conditions in the bay. The solar-powered buoys measure the basic water chemistry, including temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen levels, chlorophyll and phycocyanin, which is specific to blue-green algae. The southernmost buoy houses a complete weather station and measures certain nutrients and water levels.

“If we see a spike (in the chemistry) we know there’s potential for a bloom to come,” said Satchwell. Data from the buoys is transmitted to the Great Lakes Research Consortium’s website (www.esf.edu/glrc/buoys/) where anyone can follow the data.

“If we get them (blue-green algal blooms), we get them typically in the late summer,” said Ed Leroux, a resident of Sodus Bay who assists the ESF team.

The bay experienced a major bloom in 2010 that shut down businesses two weeks before Labor Day, delivering an economic blow to the popular tourist area. “No one was in the water, no one was in the restaurants,” Leroux said.

Undergraduate Matt Blake, left, and Michael Satchwell, senior research support specialist, deploy a buoy in Sodus Bay that will assist researchers in their quest to predict blue-green algal blooms.

Blue-green algae blooms, or cyanobacteria, can be harmful to humans and fatal to pets. Exposure to the algae can result in diarrhea, nausea or vomiting; skin, eye or throat irritation; and allergic reactions or breathing difficulties.

Save Our Sodus, a group dedicated to addressing challenges to the quality of Sodus Bay, asked Dr. Greg Boyer of the ESF Department of Chemistry to look into the matter. Boyer, director of the Great Lakes Research Consortium and member of Save Our Sodus, has studied algal blooms in numerous water bodies in the Northeast and China.

Boyer began random water sampling in the bay in 2011 and has since collected a substantial amount of data. The buoys were also installed in 2011 with funding from a number of sources, including a grant with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency through the Great Lakes Restoration initiative and funding from the Great Lakes Observing System.

“To date, data shows chlorophyll has dropped off while phosphorus levels vary up and down, and toxicity is down; but that doesn’t necessarily mean things are getting better. Phosphorus levels have to be in check, and we have to be able to predict the toxicity levels,” said Satchwell.

Blooms are known to form in tight corners and areas with little water circulation, such as marinas, so the town installed blowers — normally used to keep ice from forming — to help keep the water moving in the summer.

So far, researchers have not identified a “smoking gun” that identifies what precisely triggers the toxic blooms.

Fortunately for the merchants and tourists in Sodus Bay, “there hasn’t been a significant bloom since 2010,” noted Satchwell.

“If you keep studying it, it won’t come back,” Leroux said, somewhat tongue in cheek. “So we’re going to study it to death.”