ROCHESTER, NY (WXXI) - Several experts from across the state and the country held a summit Monday evening at Monroe Community College to try to come up with solutions to the state's algal bloom problem.
This summit is the last of four; part of a initiative by Governor Andrew Cuomo to combat the issue.
As part of his state of the state last year, the governor said, "Now we have seen a new phenomenon in water quality in many of our upstate lakes and alarming increase in water pollution that is dramatically affecting the quality of our lakes."
Harmful algal blooms give off toxins that can make people and animals sick, and they’re getting worse.
Greg Boyer of the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry says they will be working with twelve different inland lakes. "These 12 lakes," he says, "were picked not because they are the only lakes that have problems but they are to represent the spectrum of problems that’s seen across the state."
The governor’s team also includes experts from Michigan and Ohio, and even North Carolina, Vermont, and Tennessee.