People who love Lake George, protect the Queen of American lakes with fierce devotion, often reporting troubles to each other on social media, writing letters to various editors or telling others an email has been sent. The Lake George Association has created another way to communicate certain troubles: the web-based form LGReport.org.
“[People are] paying attention more closely than ever before,” to water quality on the lake said LGA President Eric Siy in an interview today. “But that doesn't necessarily mean they know where to call."
The LGA hopes people will bookmark the form on the front pages of their phones and report water quality issues as they see them, a press announcement says. The form is quite simple and asks for the basic information such as the location of the trouble and when it was seen. It also offers a user to upload photos.
"Given that we've now had confirmed harmful algal blooms, given that the threat level is rising, we have to have more eyes on the lake, more eyes on the water,” Siy said. The first HAG in the history of the lake was found last fall near Assembly Point in Queensbury. Others have been found since then. [Read more here.]
He added that the lake has also seen the infestation of the hemlock woolly adelgid in the trees along the eastern shore, is threatened by old or broken septic systems on the shoreline, and has seen erosion or other contaminants in runoff along streams that feed the lake. [Read more on the septic issue here.]
"These unprecedented threats demand unprecedented action," he said.
After a report to the site, a team of experts gathered by the LGA will respond and take the appropriate action, the press materials say.
He said that he is not too concerned about frivolous reports to the site and that it is really not intended to be a way to ferret out bad actors. At the same time, they are not calling the county sheriff if a child is caught urinating off the swim deck of a boat. (To be clear, he added that it is bad for anyone to urinate off the back of the boat: "The lake has enough troubles without people peeing in it.")
The LGA hopes that people will report the serious issues, such as the beginning of an algal bloom, a septic system that is clearly overflowing or extensive erosion during a severe storm. The website also has a link to the Department of Environmental Conservation’s page, NYSDEC Suspicious Algal Bloom Report. The LGA asks that people report HAGs there.