‘No smoking gun’ to pond algae bloom, says DEM

John Howell
Posted 9/3/15

It’s never happened for as long as homeowners on Warwick Pond can remember, but now that the water is green and they’re being warned not to go in it, they want some answers.

Tuesday night they …

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‘No smoking gun’ to pond algae bloom, says DEM

Posted

It’s never happened for as long as homeowners on Warwick Pond can remember, but now that the water is green and they’re being warned not to go in it, they want some answers.

Tuesday night they got some answers regarding what’s caused a blue-green algae bloom. And while projects at T.F. Green Airport were named as suspects, there was nothing conclusive indicating that either the suspected runoff of fertilizer at the new Winslow Park playing fields or the re-channeling of the stream feeding the pond contributed to the problem.

Elizabeth Scott, deputy chief of the Department of Environmental Management’s (DEM) Office of Water Resources, told an audience of about 80 people at the Warwick Library Tuesday evening there’s no clear-cut answer as to why the bloom happened this year. She added to the surprise of the audience that algae blooms of lesser degrees have occurred in the pond for the last 20 years.

Scott and a panel, which included Linda Green, program director of URI Watershed Watch; City Council members Camille Vella-Wilkinson and Joseph Solomon; Apponaug Girls Softball League president Bob Chevian; and Department of Health (HEALTH) representative Amie Parris, were assembled by Phil D’Erole. D’Erole has lived on the pond for 15 years and is anxious to identify the sources of the bloom and prevent it from happening again.

“We don’t want politics; we want a solution,” D’Erole told the panel. He believes the bloom resulted from a large influx of phosphorous and nitrogen, nutrients that fed the cyanobacteria, which is a bacteria and not a form of vegetation.

D’Erole said yesterday he is reviewing information from the meeting and will list actions residents, the city and DEM can take to improve water quality. He said the information would be distributed when completed.

As Scott explained, nutrients are one of the components that influence the growth of the algae and the one that can be controlled. The algae also need high temperatures and plenty of sunlight to grow.

She said some cyanobacteria could produce toxins. In the case of Warwick Pond, she said, “no toxins were found, which is a good thing.” Yet, “out of an abundance of caution,” DEM and HEALTH issued an advisory Aug. 18 that people and pets avoid contact with the water.

Scott said DEM conducted an inspection of Rhode Island Airport Corporation projects, including Winslow Park and the stream, and “everything was in compliance with the permit.” She said, however, there was an overflow from a bio-retention basin at the fields during a heavy rain.

She said 44 storm drains feed into the pond, which is “a significant problem,” and that with lawns extending to the water’s edge, “it is the perfect habitat” for geese. Scott recommended a reduction in drains, planting vegetation that discourages geese from pond usage, and the reduction of nutrients including lawn fertilizers and animal waste. She also reported that of the approximate 80 homeowners on the pond, 25 are not tied into sewers, and of those, 22 have cesspools.

There were many unanswered questions.

Would opening the drainage to the pond, which has become overgrown and silted in, improve pond water quality? Taking such action, it was suggested, might improve the flow in Buckeye Brook and help the annual herring run that has declined in recent years.

One resident noted Spring Green Pond, which feeds into Warwick Pond, does not have an algae bloom and observed that it is also above stream from the airport projects. Could this be the indicator?

Pond resident Connie Mero questioned why some storm drains couldn’t be shut down. And while no one source was identified as being the game-changer this year, she pointed out for the first time three major airport projects have taken place within the pond watershed this year.

Scott conceded the construction sites “may have been” the tipping point, but it’s “not a smoking gun.”

Chevian said Apponaug Girls Softball, which is just starting to use the fields, would be considerate of fertilizers and would inquire about fertilizers that don’t use phosphorous.

Describing the life cycle of cyanobacteria, Green predicted a “big” algae bloom in the fall when, because of changing temperatures, there will be a turnover in pond water. She thought it could take years to cure the pond of future blooms.

“It is not going to be an easy fix or a fast fix,” she said.

And still unanswered is when the pond will be safe. The DEM and HEALTH advisory gives a date of Nov. 1. Scott said that was selected because, by Nov. 1, temperatures have dropped and days are shorter, meaning less sunlight for the algae to grow. That didn’t sit well with many.

“No one is going to tell us if it’s safe or not?” questioned one resident.

Scott said DEM doesn’t have the money to conduct periodic testing. Tests to detect toxic bacteria run about $200, and it is suggested tests be conducted in different parts of the pond.

Vella-Wilkinson said she would talk with the city and determine when tests could be done and how they would be paid for.

Comments

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  • Justanidiot

    I'm from the guvmint, so you can trust me.

    Friday, September 4, 2015 Report this

  • JohnStark

    DEM: 399 employees. $93M budget. $93.00 annually for every man, woman, and child in the state. "Scott said DEM doesn’t have the money to conduct periodic testing. Tests to detect toxic bacteria run about $200..." The cost of "tests" would address the needs of...um....2 people on Warwick Pond. You voted for this, RI. Congratulations.

    Wednesday, September 9, 2015 Report this