SMITH MOUNTAIN LAKE, Va. – Scott Hasinger with the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality isn’t having much luck searching for algae blooms at Smith Mountain Lake. On June 19, cloudy skies and overnight rains drove the blue-green colored blooms out of sight – at least until the sun comes back out.
The state is doing extra testing of the lake’s water since the blooms were spotted, but it’s a lot of territories to cover and the algae have been elusive at times, due mostly, Hasinger says, to the extreme amount of activity at the lake.
“This is one of the more active lakes that we monitor, and the amount of direct in the amount of traffic in the main and the main channel would make it hard for the algae to set up there specifically. And some of that traffic, and the wind will push it off into coves. That may be places that it collects more readily and is more easily visible,” Hasinger said.
Hasinger says the lake comprises 32 square miles of water and more than 500 miles of shoreline. He says the DEQ depends upon homeowners and the Smith Mountain Lake Association to let them know when they spot the blooms, which Hasinger says he has never seen at the lake since he began testing here in the early 2000s.
On that particular day, the weather has pushed the blooms away from the surface, so they are hard to spot. But he says common sense will tell you when it’s unwise to swim.
“You would be looking for a scum or a discoloration on the surface of the water, and sometimes that would be accompanied by a foul odor, and generally when you see something like that you would not want to go swimming in it,” he said.
The Department of Health first issued advisories about a possible danger to people and pets in early June. Experts say the algae is caused by certain weather patterns including long sunny days.
You can report and track the algae bloom, as well as see warnings across the nation on the Virginia Department of Health’s website here.
See photos of the discolored water at Smith Mountain Lake on the SML Marine Fire Rescue Facebook Page here.