Surface Water Temperature: 71.2 F
Water Clarity: 18 Feet
Lake Level: 803.1 Feet above sea level
Lake Level Relative to Weir: -0.4 Feet
Observations: Monday (6/7/21), The water clarity has declined 3 feet over the last week to 18 feet and the surface water temperature has increased 6.6 degrees Fahrenheit due to warmer weather. There was no visible algae in the water column this morning. The lake is stratified at ~20 feet. This is very early in the season for the lake to be stratified. However, the dissolved oxygen level is still not low enough to weaken the phosphorus iron bond releasing Phosphorus into the deep water yet. We will be collecting and posting water quality data every Monday now.
I received this question last Friday; "What are the implications or impact of the lake being stratified this early? ". When a lake stratifies and forms a thermocline the decaying organic matter, dead algae and weed fragments, on the lake bottom consumes dissolved oxygen in the water below the thermocline. When the dissolved oxygen has been completely consumed the phosphorous iron bond in the bottom sediments becomes weak releasing legacy phosphorus into the water near the bottom sediments. Then when there is a lake mixing event this bottom water containing excessive amounts of phosphorus is mixed with the whole water column fueling a blue-green algae bloom. The earlier the lake stratifies the earlier this process starts increasing the total amount of legacy phosphorus released from the bottom sediment during that year's summer stratification period.
We did observe a lot of Curly Leaf Pond Weed growing to the surface in shallow areas of the lake this morning. Ontario County is trying to start our weed harvesting program later this month to address this issue.
Always use your own visual assessment before making contact with the lake water at this time of year as the blue-green algae situation can change daily if not hourly. Please regularly check the DEC HABs alert map for more detailed updates on Honeoye Lake HABs alerts:
Click on the blue outlined box that says "Log in / Sign up" in the upper right hand corner of this page to sign-up to be notified when we update our weekly Honeoye Lake water quality blog.
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- Click on this link for "2021 Honeoye Lake Aeration Engineering Planning Project"
- The NYSDEC has recently released a new report “Feasibility Assessment of Harmful Algal Bloom Management Options for Honeoye Lake and Conesus Lake” as a follow-up to their 2018 Honeoye and Conesus Lake HABs Action Plans. Click on the link below to see report:
This report evaluates various techniques for mitigating Harmful Algae Blooms in Honeoye Lake by preventing the release of legacy phosphorus from the lake bottom sediments.
- Click on this link for HLWTF Winter newsletter: e6fc30_ef8d01223f42408ba11b3a7a5f83bebe.pdf
- Click on this link for "2020 Water Quality: What, Why, What's Next"
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