BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Despite cooler weather on the way, several spots around the state have closed beaches due to cyanobacteria concerns. Ike Bendavid reports on why the blooms are staying late, and why overall there have been far fewer this year.
Burlington’s Perkins Pier is a spot to take in the beautiful fall views, but the water there does not look so nice.
“I was shocked. I was absolutely shocked to see it this time of the year,” said Larry Jacques, who works near the waterfront. He says because he’s by the water so much, he can identify toxic cyanobacteria blooms and that he is glad he did before his dog Lucky went for a swim Tuesday. “I saw it and I said I can’t believe what I’m seeing — that there’s a blue-green algae.”
Cyanobacteria blooms often show up on hot summer days in still water. Though we are a month into autumn, the recent warm, sunny weather has led to blooms like the one at the pier and another one at Indian Brook Reservoir in Essex.
“You’ll see the water cooling off more and more and you will see less and less of the issue,” said the city of Burlington’s Alec Kaeding.
He says Burlington saw fewer beach closures this year because of a change in its testing program. If there were low levels of the bacteria present, the city would give out warnings instead of closing a beach. In 2024, there were 14 closures and 38 warnings compared to 51 closures in 2023 and 49 closures in 2022.
State officials say blooms overall were also less prevalent, a combination of weather conditions, water temperatures, and nutrients in the water.
As for Jacques, he’s heeding advice from health officials to keep pets away from any blooms.