Orchard Park, N.Y. (WBEN) - As many in Western New York are certain to enjoy the warm summer months while they last, one of the more popular activities for residents and families to stay cool is to head down to a local beach, or take a dip in one of the many waterways of the region.
However, there continues to be rising concerns in Western New York of algae blooms forming and overtaking popular waterways, with some of the blooms potentially producing bacteria and other toxins that are harmful to residents and their pets.
Among the locations recently seeing beaches shut down due to these algae blooms locally are Green Lake in Orchard Park, as well as Kershaw Beach in Canadiagua.
Jill Jedlicka, executive director of Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper, says algae blooms are not all that uncommon locally, and they are expected to happen from time-to-time when the warmer weather arrives.
"What makes these latest incidences this year and in recent years a little bit different is we're seeing algae blooms start much earlier in the season, last longer and persist longer. And also, having presence of the microsystems or the toxic components of them also being found," explained Jedlicka in an interview with WBEN. "We're seeing them in more waterways, we're seeing them last longer, and that's what the concern and the warning is about right now."
Jedlicka says it can be confusing for the general public or the average person to look at a waterway in question and understand just how dangerous exposing one's self to an algae bloom may be to their health or their pet's health.
"Usually, the rule of thumb that the Department of Health and the environmental agencies talk about is if the water itself looks discolored, and if it has floating masses of algae, especially near the shoreline, you just don't want to come in contact with that water. Especially during times of high heat or if there's recently been rain, oftentimes, we'll see these bloom, grow and explode when we have a lot of runoff that hits these systems, and is carrying a lot of nutrient runoff from surrounding land areas," Jedlicka explained.
Across its wide jurisdiction across Western New York, Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper has been closely monitoring as many waterways as possible this summer to ensure the safety of all residents who may head for the waters.
"We get a lot of calls into our office asking us to come out and do testing in local ponds, lakes, creeks and so forth. The ones that we have been observing directly that we try to monitor on a regular basis is Ellicott Creek and Tonawanda Creek," Jedlicka noted. "We did just do the sampling in Green Lake to confirm the presence of the harmful algal blooms. We have a couple of locations that we're investigating right now. Because there's not really a workforce or there's not really folks out there through the agencies that do testing of waterways on a regular basis - they're not regulated, they're not monitored - there really is no other entity or group doing this, so we're just trying to do the best that we can to provide this public service."
As for why there seems to be more of these algae blooms forming across the region, Jedlicka believes climate change certainly plays a role, but there's a lot of other conditions that can generate the perfect circumstances for blooms to become bigger, lasts longer, and potentially be more dangerous.
"The factors we are seeing that are common, and that are often correlated with these blooms are higher temperatures, including air temperatures and water temperatures. We see increased runoff through either frequent extreme weather like heavier rain storms and that kind of thing. And then also, we know there's a lot of behavioral land use issues that affect it. It's where and when people are applying fertilizers and pesticides to lawns, agricultural fields, or surrounding land areas. When you get a big flush of nutrients into a warm body of water that's either stagnant or not flowing, that creates a perfect condition for an algae bloom," Jedlicka explained.
Jedlicka says once an algae bloom is already taking place, it's really hard come up with a quick solution to combat it. However, there is a lot of research out there to see what can be done when the bloom is occurring.
"In an artificial system, you could possibly increase the flow of water to help flush things out a little bit, but it's really what is applied to the land, and it's the environmental stewardship that goes with making sure we're applying chemicals properly or minimizing them completely," Jedlicka stated. "Also, if you're a landowner that has waterfront property, please don't mow up to the edge of the waterfront. We want to meet that buffer zone, a vegetated buffer zone that helps filter a runoff before it hits the waterways. So there's a lot of little things that we can do that can potentially reduce the impact of these algae blooms from happening, but as of right now, there's nothing out there that says that we can stop them entirely. Nor should we, because it is a part of nature."
Another part of the world right now with concerns over potentially harmful waterways for people is in Paris, France, the home of the ongoing 2024 Summer Olympics.
It was Wednesday in Paris when Olympic triathletes dove into the Seine River in Paris after organizers declared the water in the river to be safe for swimming. This comes after days of concerns about elevated bacteria levels caused by heavy rains last week.
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Jedlicka is hopeful the situation in Paris will draw some extra attention to issues of clean water issues on a larger scale, including in Western and Upstate New York.
"Water issues are all of our issues. Water quality, nobody can escape from it. It affects every single one of us," she said. "Unfortunately, what's going on in Paris is related to a lot of their sewer infrastructure. It's a different water system, so it potentially could bounce back quicker because of the flows and the hydrodynamics, and things that are happening there. But the more we can educate our citizenry about how our water systems work and best ways to protect it, hopefully in the future, we'll have less incidences of beach closures and harmful algal bloom warnings and sewer overflows. It's going to take us a while to get there, and it's going to take an entire community and society to make the changes necessary."
For anyone who may not be fully aware of algae blooms or the effects of those blooms on the public, Jedlicka advises anyone to check out the Waterkeeper's website and check out the webpage dedicated to educating folks about the different kinds of algae blooms, and how you can possibly identify them.
"We also have links to the health department, we have links to the Department of Environmental Conservation and how you can report it. Quite frankly, it does take citizen reporting to help document where these things are happening," Jedlicka said. "If you see a bloom or you see discolored water, the safest thing to do is don't go in that water, don't ingest it, don't let your children near it, and don't let dogs play in it. Unfortunately, we have heard some anecdotal reports of some dog fatalities in the region this year from potential exposure to algal blooms."