In addition to the ongoing research of scientists from Bowling Green State University, the United States Army Corps of Engineers has announced a pilot program to study and utilize algal blooms in Chautauqua Lake. P-J photo by Jay Young

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have announced a collaborative pilot study of harmful algal blooms in Chautauqua Lake.

The project will use specialized equipment to skim HABs from the lake and convert them to material usable as bioenergy and fertilizer, and will begin with a virtual public meeting at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, July 28.

The webinar can be found by searching eventbrite.com for “Chautauqua Lake Habitat Public Meeting.”

“Working closely with our state, federal and local partners, and with support from Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s HABs Initiative, DEC is aggressively combating the environmental, recreational, and public health effects caused by HABs,” DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos said. “We encourage local residents and other stakeholders to learn more about this initiative to improve Chautauqua Lake at our virtual public information session, and look forward to continuing to work with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other community partners to support this innovative pilot project’s launch.”

Dr. Martin Page, a material engineer at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s Construction Engineering Research Laboratory and HABITATS project manager, outlined the goals of the program.

“The HABITATS research project is developing a capability to remove and efficiently dispose of large quantities of algal biomass, and entrained nutrients, which may someday help protect ecosystems and communities from HAB events,” Page said. “By recovering resources in the process, the positive environmental impacts are achieved with reduced operations costs and footprint. Those aspects are key to developing a truly scalable tool that can be used by stakeholders as part of a broader strategy to mitigate HABs.”

On Jan. 30, Chautauqua County Legislature Chairman Pierre Chagnon discussed at a Turner Series lecture the history of cooperation with the corps to help study and prevent HABs. Three years ago, Chagnon and current State Sen. George Borrello, R-Sunset Bay, helped begin that partnership by bringing the issue to the attention of legislators in Washington and Albany, including U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer.

Borrello offered his support for the new pilot program.

“This critically important pilot study is a victory for everyone who cares about the health and usability of our beautiful Chautauqua Lake,” Borrello said. “It is also the welcome culmination of two years of advocacy and effort that began in 2018 while I was Chautauqua County executive. We approached the Army Corps of Engineers because we knew that they have the operational capacity and expertise needed to assess and manage a project of this scale. When combined with the resources of the DEC, this project will have a strong team working towards a goal we all support: ensuring that Chautauqua Lake remains an environmental jewel and economic asset for our region.”

The pilot program will join ongoing research and lake maintenance projects, including work currently being done by Bowling Green scientists Dr. George Bullerjahn and Dr. Tim Davis.

For the second consecutive year, Bullerjahn and Davis have deployed electronic sensors and are taking scientific samples from various locations in the lake in order to better understand the nutrient profile of the ecosystem. Nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen play a role in the growth of cyanobacteria and algae, and can be mitigated through a number of different maintenance strategies.

“I need to know more details on the skimming and treatment process, but our phosphorus sensors and monitoring efforts should help determine how well the process works over the long run,” Bullerjahn said. “We have baseline data from last fall and this summer, and I think we can learn whether the skimming reduces bioavailable and total phosphorus once the USACE project is underway.”

Bowling Green scientists are using Chautauqua Lake as a smaller-scale research project in addition to similar studies underway on Lake Erie, and Bullerjahn called the involvement of the corps a “positive development.”

Bullerjahn said he was aware of the use of skimmers, and is interested to see how they will be deployed on the lake.

Many lake homeowners have contacted The Post-Journal in the last two weeks with concerns and frustrations about lake conditions this year, including nuisance weed growth and algae.