DERUYTER LAKE, N.Y. (NCCNews) — This year marks the driest weather for the month of June in 26 years. This dry spell has the possibility of making Harmful Algae Blooms (HAB) grow faster than in recent years.
Kely Amejecor is a geology master’s student at Binghamton University with a concentration in water quality and remote sensing.
“You’re more likely to get run off because its so dry. The floor is going to be hardened, so when it rains run off is going to run into lakes,” Amejecor said.
Amejecor said that the heat wave happening in Central New York is another factor in increasing the rate of HAB. The heat activates the chemicals that produce HAB.
Additionally, rain droplets help to mix the nutrients in water. When there is a lack of rain, the growth of HAB speeds up because the elements sit in the water and blooms are produced faster.
Not only are they dangerous, but HABs are hard to pinpoint.
“The thing about algae blooms is that they’re very difficult to recognize. You can’t just go to the lake and see some algae and say that’s a harmful algae bloom,” Amejecor said.
The only way to determine if an algae bloom is harmful is by testing the water.
At this point, there is no solution for getting rid of HAB.
“It’s still going to happen because its something natural,” Amejecor said.
