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Tompkins County urges state action and funding to monitor and mitigate harmful algal blooms
Summary
The legislature unanimously passed a resolution urging New York State to fund standardized monitoring, testing and prevention measures for harmful algal blooms (HABs); sponsors noted the public-health, recreation and tourism impacts and that roughly 30,000 residents get drinking water from the lake watershed.
The legislature unanimously approved Resolution P urging state lawmakers to advance legislation that would standardize monitoring, testing and mitigation for harmful algal blooms (HABs) across New York waterways. Planning committee members and sponsors noted the episodic but growing problem in Cayuga Lake and other Finger Lakes and said state-level funding and coordination is needed for testing, interventions and prevention work.
"Right now, it's a hodgepodge across the state of testing," the sponsor told colleagues, and added the bill seeks funding for testing and best-practice interventions. The sponsor also noted roughly 30,000 residents in the watershed get drinking water sourced from the lake, underscoring public-health stakes. Legislators expressed support for monitoring and prevention measures and the resolution passed unanimously to show county backing for the state bill and testimony at the Senate Environmental Conservation Committee.
