Memorandum
Date: June 9, 2026
To: The Honorable Lake County Board of Supervisors, and the Directors of the Lake County Watershed Protection District
From: Dr. Pawan Upadhyay, Director, and Todd Abbott, Program Coordinator, Water Resources Department
Subject: Consideration of Presentation provided by Lake County Water Resources, regarding the LG Sonic Harmful Algal Bloom Mitigation Project
Executive Summary:
The Lake County Water Resources Department requests that the Board of Supervisors and the Directors of the Lake County Watershed Protection District receive and accept a staff presentation regarding the LG Sonic Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) Mitigation Project. The presentation will provide an overview of the project, including its objectives, implementation strategy, anticipated benefits, funding sources, and long-term operations and maintenance plan.
Clear Lake continues to experience recurring harmful algal blooms (HABs), which can negatively affect public health, recreational opportunities, aquatic ecosystems, and drinking water treatment operations. To address these challenges, the County is implementing a 24-month pilot project utilizing LG Sonic technology to reduce the frequency and severity of HABs in targeted areas of Clear Lake. The project includes the installation of twelve (12) algae mitigation buoys and two (2) monitoring/data collection buoys equipped with LG Sonic's Interactive Algae Control (IAC) software. The system uses environmentally safe ultrasonic technology to disrupt algae buoyancy, reducing access to sunlight and limiting bloom formation without harming fish, wildlife, or other aquatic organisms.
The project is funded through Community Development Block Grant - Mitigation Resilience Improvement Program (CDBG-MIT-RIP) funds, which cover equipment procurement, installation, system setup, and the initial software subscription period. The pilot project will generate valuable data regarding the effectiveness of this technology i...
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