Monitoring and Health Advisories

About the Monitoring Program: The LCBP funds scientists from the UVM Rubenstein Lab who sample in Missisquoi Bay, St. Albans Bay, and Burlington Bay and also work with Vermont and New York DEC to monitor 15 stations lakewide. The Lake Champlain Committee also coordinates volunteer sampling along the lakeshore. The LCBP publishes the technical reports for each monitoring season.

• Weekly bloom status and advisories (VT Dept. of Health)
  
• Algues bleu-vert, Plans d'eau faisant actuellement l'objet d'une interdiction d'usage
• Tips for identifying a blue-green algae bloom (VT Dept. of Health)
• Guide d’identification des fleurs d’eau de cyanobactéries (Cyanobactoeria Identification Guide -- Quebec Ministry of Environment, French only)
• View photos of the August 2008 blooms on Lake Champlain

Blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) blooms may appear thick like pea soup, like green paint, or like grass clippings on the water. Although most of the blue green algae blooms that occur on the Lake are harmless, blue-green algae can sometimes produce neurotoxins that can be dangerous if ingested in large enough quantities. In 1999, a dog died after ingesting toxic blue-green algae from Lake Champlain, followed by two more in 2000.

Blue-green algae can form when warm surface water temperatures and calm winds limit vertical mixing of the lake water. Together with abundant phosphorus, these conditions can contribute to blue-green algae growth patterns that produce neurotoxins and prompt local human health concerns. During the August 2001 heat wave, officials from the Vermont Department of Health posted a blue-green algae advisory for the Lake because of conditions which may lead to the formation of blooms. In August, 2002, another advisory was issued by the Health Department about blue-green algae blooms detected at testing sites in Missisquoi Bay and St. Albans Bay. The Montérégie Public Health Department also posted an advisory for the Quebec portion of Missiquoi Bay during July 2002. See links below for complete advisories.

Since 2000, the LCBP has continued to fund blue green algae studies by the University of Vermont, the VT Department of Health, and Syracuse University in conjunction with the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Scientists are monitoring Lake Champlain for blue-green algae blooms and measuring the environmental conditions that promote blue-green toxicity in Lake Champlain. For more information about this program, contact the University of Vermont's Rubenstein Ecosystem Lab at (802) 859-3086, or view the published technical reports here. The Quebec Ministry of the Environment is also testing for blue-green algae on Missisquoi Bay, continuing a project begun in 1999. Several beaches on Missisquoi Bay have been closed because of blue-green algae blooms over the past summers. In 2002, a Missisquoi Bay Phosphorus Reduction Agreement was signed between Vermont and Quebec.

Use common sense when dealing with algae blooms. Do not allow your pets to eat clumps of algae that have washed up on the beach. To be safe, don't let your children play in clumps of algae or drink untreated lake water while swimming or playing in the water. Lake-shore residents with shallow drinking water intake pipes that might pump in blue-green algae should be cautious. No one should drink untreated lake water.

• New York: State Dept. of Health (Saranac Lake) 518-891-1800 or (800) 458-1158
• Vermont: State Dept. of Health (Burlington) (800) 631-4343 or (802) 863-7200
• Quebec: Régie régionale de la santé et des services sociaux de la Montérégie (RRSSSM) (Montérégie Public Health Department) (450) 928-6777

• Blue-Green Algae Page, VT Dept. of Health
• NY State Department of Health Blue-Green Algae Bulletin
• Blue-Green Algae page, QC Dept. of Health
• Algae in Farm Ponds Fact Sheet (66 KB)
• Blue-green Algae Blooms / Algues bleu-vert (Quebec MDDEP)
• Guide d’identificationdes fleurs d’eau de cyanobactéries (Cyanobactoeria Identification Guide -- Quebec Ministry of Environment, French only)
• LCBP technical reports for blue-green algae monitoring program
• État de l'écosystème aquatique du bassin versant de la baie Missisquoi, 2001-2004 (State of the Missisquoi Watershed's Aquatic Ecosystem)