Dock Watch Program Findings in 2023 & 2024

Very low levels of cyanotoxins were detected in a few samples collected at Smith Mountain Lake in 2023, but none were found to contain toxins above the state advisory levels. The dock watch program focuses on five target cyanobacteria (Aphanizomenon, Microcystis, Dolichospermum, Planktothrix and Raphidiopsis).

In 2024, Dock watch volunteers, assisted by a summer intern from Ferrum College, made 110 detections of the target cyanobacteria. Of those, 19 were at levels considered elevated. These detections are simply the presence of the cyanobacteria and toxicity was not measured.