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A curious phenomenon springs up occasionally on New York's Finger Lakes: white foam, sometimes in miles-long swathes, almost as if a massive washing machine emptied out into the water.

"These lakes have only been getting algae blooms for less than 10 years; it's a very new problem," said Richard W. Smith, founder of Sodus-based Global Aquatic Research.

Smith and colleague Stella C. Woodard are both affiliated faculty in Binghamton University's Earth Sciences Department. After the appearance of frothy white foam on Canandaigua Lake, the Canandaigua Lake Watershed Association (CLWA) hired their environmental consulting firm to investigate the foam and its connection to algal blooms.

So far, their research has taken them to Canandaigua and later Skaneateles, among the cleanest lakes in the country. Like many of the Finger Lakes, they run deep, with few of the nutrients that typically fuel algal blooms.

"That's not something we're used to seeing on clean lakes," Smith said. "This is a really high-quality water source that provides drinking water for the city of Canandaigua and surrounding communities. Skaneateles Lake provides the drinking water for Syracuse."

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