About

VDH RECREATIONAL ADVISORIES

Sampling Stations

Water Quality Data

Instruments

Partnerships

WQ & Algae Stakeholder Meetings

Future Activities

Volunteers In Action

Library

HAB Update

VDH RECREATIONAL advisorIES

The most recent Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) sampling event to monitor for cyanobacteria blooms in Lake Anna took place on October 18th.

The results indicate that, except for the Sandbar station on the upper North Anna River, the lake is returning to normal fall/winter conditions. The Sandbar station still had high cyanobacteria cell counts on the sampling date.

All Virginia Department of Health (VDH) recreational advisories expired on October 31st.  The first cyanobacteria sampling for 2023 is expected to be in early May 2023.

The Lake Anna Bloom status report has been updated on the website under the quicklinks page of the HAB website.

Please bookmark www.SwimHealthyVa.com site, and use this page to stay up to date on HAB updates.

You can view the current status of HAB events throughout Virginia on VDA's HAB map.

Report suspected HAB-related HEALTH complaint to the HAB Hotline 1-888-238-6154. All requests for HAB sampling updates received on the HAB hotline will be referred to the website.

A few reminders on reporting and resources:

To submit a HAB report or scum sighting, utilize the online report form located at:
https://www.vdh.virginia.gov/waterborne-hazards-control/harmful-algal-bloom-online-report-form/

VDH has many HAB resources available via the HAB resources list on their website, including talking points, signage, and brochures. If you are contacted for information, please point citizens to these resources.

Citizen reports called “Crowd-Sourced Reports” are displayed on the VDH HAB Map online, represented by blue dots on the map. 

If you see what you suspect to be an algae bloom, please report it to the Virginia Department of Health, even if a Recreational Advisory is already in place near your property.  Use the HAB Online Report Form and submit weekly updates with images to keep VDH up to date.   A report must be based on current conditions - a report that documents a past condition (defined as greater than 48 hours in the past) will be rejected by VDH.  Submit reports to VDH using the online reporting form within 24-48 hours of the algae bloom condition. 

Geographic coordinates are required when you submit a report.  You can use Google Maps, or other mapping tools, to provide the latitude and longitude of the location. 

Also - and this is very important - include a picture of the algae/scum condition with your report.