Big Bear Municipal Water District (BBMWD) is a small water utility located in Big Bear, California. BBMWD is responsible for the overall management of Big Bear Lake, one of Southern California’s premier recreational lakes. BBMWD’s recent purchase of a FlowCam allows them to quickly monitor for harmful algal blooms (HABs) and invasive quagga and zebra mussels.
Maintaining healthy algae populations and preventing HABs are a priorities for BBMWD. Foul odors, toxin releases, and wildlife deaths drive visitors away, as well as restricting the use of the lake.
From Months to Minutes
HABs can bloom to toxic concentrations in a few hours. Before purchasing a FlowCam instrument, BBMWD outsourced their water quality analysis, taking up to one month to receive results, at which point the impending HAB had already bloomed and subsided. Thanks to FlowCam, BBMWD now receives results in minutes.
BBMWD collects samples from 3 depths at 4 different locations to monitor the water column around the lake. Of the 12 samples, the majority are sent to the Department of Fish and Wildlife for invasive species monitoring to support early detection of invasive species. A portion of those samples are analyzed for quagga and zebra veligers in-house using FlowCam. FlowCam is also used for in-house analysis of algae and HAB monitoring.
“As the seasons change, it is easy to increase sampling frequency [with FlowCam] to keep up with the increased likelihood of blooms,” says BBMWD Lake Manager James Bellis.
BBMWD also uses FlowCam to quickly answer questions asked by Big Bear Lake users, who call with concerns about visible algae. “It’s great that we can test the water and have confidence in the results.” Bellis says FlowCam helps him obtain answers quickly and respond to calls with confidence—quelling any swimmers' fears. FlowCam has empowered the BBMWD staff to educate the lake’s users on the environmental processes of lakes, what types of algae are good and bad, and when remediation is necessary.
This spring, recreational lake visitors notified BBMWD of light blue algae present on the lake surface. After analyzing a sample using FlowCam, BBMWD identified the algae as dead Anabaena sp. cells (pictured above) that had been bleached by the sun and therefore decided not to treat it with algaecide. Dead algae have a higher risk of lysing or splitting open as they dry out on the lake's surface. If the dead cells had been lysed, say by an effort to mitigate them using algaecide, they may have released their toxins and posed a greater threat to the health of the lake.
Invasive Species
Quagga mussels (Dreissena bugensis) and zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) are invasive, biofouling mollusks capable of causing severe economic and ecological harm to freshwater habitats. Quagga mussels threaten the health of freshwater bodies and any associated infrastructure (pipes, etc.) and have recently been discovered in Lake Mead, Lake Havasu, and other Southern California lakes. Detecting the presence of the mussels as soon as possible after their arrival allows managers to implement responses that can reduce further spread, such as watercraft movement restrictions.
BBMWD has been taking the necessary steps to prevent the invasion of quagga mussels to Big Bear Lake since 2007. Educating the public on this invasive species and enlisting their help in education and prevention programs has been essential to protect the lake from the devastating environmental, recreational, and economic impacts of the quagga mussel.
BBMWD received funding to purchase a FlowCam as a tool to manage and control HABs and invasive species like quagga and zebra mussels, through a grant from the California Division of Boating and Waterways. Mussel veligers (pictured below) have unique shell morphology, shape, and size that makes them easy to identify using FlowCam images.
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BBMWD is committed to improving early detection in conjunction with prevention and containment plans. They have created a strong program for educating the public about best practices to keep boats “Clean, Drained, and Dry!"
Download our FlowCam image guide to common freshwater algae and cyanobacteria for a detailed look at organisms that impact drinking and recreational water.
