SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) – New technology is being created to detect and reduce harmful algal blooms around Skaneateles Lake to make it safer for the community to enjoy.
Harmful algal blooms are a result of the formation of a toxin-producing algae, according to SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry President Emeritus Cornelius B. Murphy. These blooms can be toxic to the water supply and can negatively affect people and animals who go into the lake.
The new technology has two pieces that will each work to fight off the algal blooms.
“The first piece of it, the hydrodynamic cavitation oxidation, addresses the algae,” said Murphy. “The nano bubbles of ozone really address the toxin.”
According to Voltek Water, the technology forces the algal blooms to go through its system and creates the nano bubbles. The nano bubbles then create high temperatures and pressure before expanding and exploding, getting rid of the toxins.
Murphy says they will start using the technology at the Skaneateles Country Club and will move around to other parts of the lake.
“The technology we’re developing is being designed to be located on a dock,” said Murphy. “It is by design to be compact, it is by design to be able to move, be moved, from one location to another.”
Murphy says that there is not a permanent solution that could fully eradicate the blooms. Instead, the goal is to reduce them to make it easier to handle.
“If you get a micro bloom started in a lake, and you can treat that, be responsive in treating it, then you can manage it,” said Murphy.
This project is part of a partnership between SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, the Skaneateles Lake Association and the City of Syracuse. The state will be giving them $100,000 to work on the program.
The technology will likely be purchased in the fall, and they hope to start testing in the lake next summer.
