Health officials report progress in addressing algal blooms at Smith Mountain Lake, potential lifting of swimming advisory in mid-August

Roanoke, Virginia – The upper section of the Blackwater arm near Union Hall remains under a swimming advisory. According to health officials, the earliest projected date for lifting this restriction could be in the middle of August.

Recent tests indicate that Smith Mountain Lake is making significant progress in countering the Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) that have affected certain regions of the lake this summer.

Keri Green, Chair of the Smith Mountain Lake Association Quality Council, commented, “Those results showed that the levels of cyanobacteria are at what the Virginia Department of Health considers to be safe. And toxins are undetectable or very low.”

The protocol for revoking a swimming advisory necessitates two successive clean samples, which should be collected at a minimum interval of 10 days. Given the number of water bodies managed by the Department of Environmental Quality, this process will require an additional two weeks.

Green explained, “Which means a week delay to get those results and not perhaps knowing if the swimming advisory will be lifted until the week of August 13th. So, you know, it’s frustrating this has been a process that has been going on.”

Green also highlighted the financial challenges in monitoring and addressing HABs in Virginia’s water bodies. She added, “We’re starting to meet with some of our local representatives. We’re going to be engaging leadership at the state level – to start talking about closing gaps and see how we can shorten this process.”

One potential solution under consideration is enhancing the Water Quality Monitoring program in partnership with Ferrum College. This could potentially help reduce the time between sample collection and obtaining results.

While HABs must naturally run their course, Green indicated that mitigation measures exist, such as the application of algaecide or hydrogen peroxide. However, she cautioned, “Lake Anna is doing it but we’re not there yet. There’s quite of bit more research that we need to do to be able to figure out when to do that and if we can do it and it’s not cheap.”

In response to these challenges, a working group dedicated to HABs has been formed with the aim of addressing some of these concerns.

For additional information about HABs and ways to assist in their prevention, click here.