Cool weather brings an end to harmful algae season this year

AUSTIN, Texas - The Watershed Protection Department has announced that it is no longer detecting harmful algae in Lady Bird Lake. With cool temperatures, harmful algae are unlikely to return until next summer, the department continued in a press release. Although there is always some level of risk in a natural water body, currently the risk at Lady Bird Lake is low.

This year, toxins were first detected in algae samples taken from Lady Bird Lake on July 14th and continued to find toxins until mid-November. The last positive algae sample was taken on November 10th.

There were no reports of dogs becoming ill or dying due to algae exposure after swimming in the lake this year. The Watershed Protection Department credits this success to the care dog owners took in following recommendations and keeping their pets out of the water during the long, hot summer and fall.

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Dog owners mourn loss of beloved pets

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The Watershed Protection Department first received reports of dogs dying after swimming in Lady Bird Lake in August 2019. This year, the department instituted a weekly monitoring program for harmful algae beginning in late June to help avoid a similar, sad situation. Signs were posted at the lake to educate dog owners, and data from the monitoring program has been available on a dashboard at AustinTexas.gov/algae. 

The type of harmful algae on Lady Bird Lake is different from the more common algae outbreaks in the Great Lakes and along the Gulf Coast. Rather than being dispersed throughout the water body, the algae grows in clumps at the bottom of the lakebed and rises to the surface of the water, according to the department.