Sunday August 3, 2025 Honeoye Lake Water Quality
- Terry Gronwall
- Aug 3
- 3 min read
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Sunday August 3, 2025 Honeoye Lake Water Quality
Surface Water Temperature: ~79.2 F
Water Clarity: ~5.0 Feet
Lake Level: 803.1 Feet above sea level
Observations: Sunday (8/3/25), Water clarity was ~5.0 feet the about 1.3 feet less than last week. The surface water temperature was ~79.2 F about 1.6 F less than last week due to the cooler weather we have been having. It was sunny with a light wind today. The Southern Honeoye Valley had very visible Canadian wildfire smoke today.
We were able to check open water and several near shore locations today. We found an increasing amount of blue-green algae in the water column but did not see any blue-green algae surface scum. However, we expect that there could be surface blue-green algae blooms at isolated near shore locations around the lake given the amount of blue-green algae in the water column. There were two near shore blue-green algae blooms in the NW corner of the northern lake basin reported to the DEC HABs alert map between 7/28-8/3. Since Honeoye Lake has ~10 miles of shoreline your most accurate source of blue-green algae blooms is the crowd source bloom data found on the DEC HABs alert map (NYHABS).
Anabaena (Dolchospermum) (looks like a spring or chain of beads), Aphanizomenon (looks like a leaf), Limnoraphis (looks like a rod), and Microsystis (looks like a group of small round cells) are the current dominant blue-green algae species. See picture on the left. Gloeotrichia (lots of small spikes) continues to decline. See picture below: You should be watchful for Microcystis, Anabaena, Aphanizomenon, and Limnoraphis blooms lake wide. These are all blue-green (cyanobacteria) algae species. We expect to see blue-green algae blooms continue over the next few weeks particularly when we have 80-90 F days with calm winds. More information on Gloeotrichia and Anabaena can be found at: https://www.honeoyelakewatershed.org/habs
Several research studies have found that most of the phosphorus that fuels Honeoye Lake’s blue-green algae blooms is released from the lake bottom sediments when the lake’s dissolved oxygen level goes below 0.5 mg/L in the deeper parts of the lake breaking the phosphors/iron bond in the bottom sediments releasing phosphorus into the water column. The dissolved oxygen (DO) level near the lake bottom at ~7.0 m (~23.1 feet) was 0.42 mg/L and at ~9 m (~30 feet) was 0.19 mg/L today. This means that phosphorus is currently being released from the deep bottom sediments into the deepest part of the lake water. When we have a complete lake mixing event the deep lake water, with excessive amounts of phosphorus, will be mixed into the whole water column potentially fueling a blue-green algae bloom. Lake was stratified (i.e. had a thermocline) at ~6 m (~19.8 feet) deep. See temperature and DO graphs to the left.
As the water temperature differential between the surface and 9 m is starting to decrease. As this water temperature differential decreases the lake’s resistance to mixing decreases. This trend should continue as we get cooler weather during the month of August. Therefore, we expect that the lake should have a complete mixing event later in August.
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:
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2025 Honeoye Lake Fishery Update
Pete Austerman
Aquatic Biologist
NYSDEC Region 8 Fisheries
Click on the link below:
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Click on the link below to see the Honeoye Lake Watershed Task Force 2025 Winter Newsletter:
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All operators of motorized vessels, regardless of age, will need a boating safety certificate by January 1, 2025.
Click on the link below for more information on how to get a NYS Safe Boating certificate:
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Click on the link below to see the Honeoye Lake Watershed Stormwater Toolkit:
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