Update: Onondaga County has announced that test results show non-detectable levels of algae toxins in Syracuse’s drinking water. “Although low levels of toxin continue to be found in untreated drinking water, the treated water shows no indication of toxin,” the county said in a news release issued at 8:29 p.m.
The blooms have dissipated, so new new testing is required over the weekend, the county said.
Syracuse, N.Y. -- For the first time this summer, toxins from blue-green algae have been found in the city of Syracuse’s water intake pipes in Skaneateles Lake.
An Onondaga County Health Department news release said “low levels” of algae toxins had been found, but did not give a specific number other than to say the levels were “well below health advisory limits for the general population.”
Testing of raw and treated water samples are not complete yet, the county said. Syracuse draws unfiltered drinking water from the lake.
The toxins were detected during routine sampling. The two intake pipes draw untreated water from the lake and convey it to the pumphouse in the village of Skaneateles, and the water is then treated with chlorine before reaching taps.
Two large blooms were spotted Thursday near the village, at the north end of the lake, according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation. Several smaller blooms were confirmed in the northern end of the lake recently.
Today’s announcement comes nearly four years to the day the first time algae toxins were discovered in the lake near the pipes. Since then, Syracuse has made plans to spend $13 million to extend the pipes farther into the lake. No work has been done on that yet. The city has also applied for permission to apply a copper sulfate solution to blooms, but has not received approval yet.
Weather conditions are similar to 2017: Torrential rains weeks before swept nutrients into the lake that algae thrive on, and an extended stretch of warm, calm weather in mid-September led to formation of blooms. The peak season for algae outbreaks is August and September.
After the heavy rains of last month, the Skaneateles Lake Association was wary of new blooms.
“There are a lot of nutrients in the waterway,” Frank Moses, executive director of the association, said last week. “That is keeping us on edge.”
Skaneateles Lake is so clean that Syracuse is one of a handful of large water systems in the U.S. that doesn’t need an expensive filtration plant. During the widespread algae bloom in 2017, however, low levels of algae toxins were drawn into the city’s two intake pipes at the lake’s north end. Extra chlorine additions kept the toxins from reaching tap water.
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