The water isn’t green this year…yet.

That’s great news, says Phil D’Ercole. But while Warwick Pond hasn’t experienced a blue-green algae bloom this summer, which happened last year for the first time in its recorded history, he isn’t letting down his guard.

The pond resident was principally responsible for sounding the alarm when pond waters transformed from a transparent gray to murky green last July. The Department of Environmental Management identified the condition as a cynobacteria bloom – actually not algae, although called a blue-green algae bloom – that can be toxic. DEM issued an advisory for people and animals to avoid contact with the water.

“It looks like it’s cleaned up pretty well,” D’Ercole said prior to the start of Monday’s City Council meeting. Nonetheless, he points out a lot of heat, a lot of sunshine, and little rain have made for ideal bloom conditions. The other ingredient needed for a bloom is nutrients.

D’Ercole’s optimism about this summer’s conditions is tempered by the observations of a neighbor, Margaret Franzen. She and her family are on the pond daily at this time of year. She said Tuesday that water temperature jumped from 78 to 87 degrees in the last week, and the pond is starting to look green at its center.

“We’re hoping we’ve dodged a bullet,” D’Erole said in response to her report.

Whether there is another bloom this summer or not, D’Ercole and the organization he helped spawn, Friends of Warwick Ponds, is taking a proactive stance to control pond nutrients. The group is watchful of what pond-area neighbors, including the Rhode Island Airport Corporation and the city, are doing to reduce the runoff of nutrients.

The Friends have also done more than keep watch.

D’Ercole said the group of about 200 has a core of 25 people who are especially active and do much of the work. The Friends meet monthly, conduct educational programs, and have been vocal on issues concerning water quality, including developments at the airport and the city storm water management consent decree with DEM.

On July 17, the Friends organized a Pontoon Palooza, a gathering of 17 water vessels from boats to kayaks at the center of the pond. They then circled the pond perimeter and met at a picnic to celebrate and support the continued good health of the water this summer.

Have their efforts made for a “green-less” pond so far this summer?

D’Ercole can’t say. Unlike last year, he notes, RIAC has completed projects that had the potential of impacting pond waters, including the creation of added wetlands to the north of the pond to offset those lost when the runway safety area was extended toward Buckeye Brook. Last year, D’Ercole and others on the pond argued fertilizers used on the relocated Winslow Park playing fields were largely responsible for the bloom, although that wasn’t substantiated by DEM.

“It’s still relatively early in the season,” Elizabeth Scott, DEM deputy chief of water resources, said in an interview Tuesday. She said there have been three cynobacteria blooms this year, the earliest being at Scott Pond in Lincoln on April 16. The DEM lifted its advisory on that pond on June 21. Advisories were issued last month on two ponds in Portsmouth.

Scott stressed the importance of citizen involvement in reporting “any signs of green water or scum.” She commended the Friends on their role in keeping the public informed and conducting educational events.

The Friends have extended their interest beyond Warwick Pond and used “ponds” in its name for that reason.

“We felt when we had that first meeting that whatever we did for Warwick Pond would affect other water bodies,” D’Ercole said.

The Friends were supportive of the storm water consent decree with DEM. One of the conditions of the decree requires the city to map storm water outflows and catch basins. D’Ercole said the Friends have identified 44 outflows into the pond plus an additional 16 into tributaries feeding the pond.

Of mounting concern is the elevated level of Warwick Pond put at between a foot and 18 inches, which the Friends and the city attribute to the restricted flow of Buckeye Brook resulting from the growth of phragmites, a non-indigenous reed, as well as other vegetation and silting of the brook.

In a report on the status of the consent decree to the council Monday, City Engineer Eric Earles said the city would meet with DEM on Sept. 1 to discuss removal of the phragmites. He said the process is “going to take longer” than first imagined, which was of little consolation to Ward 3 Councilwoman Camille Vella-Wilkinson. She noted property owners on Lakeshore Drive are finding sections of the road and their property near wetlands awash during heavy rainfall.

Scott called the mapping of outfalls and catch basins an important first step to understanding “what’s connected to what.” As for clearing what could be impeding Buckeye Brook, she said, “our key concern is the migration of buckeyes.”

She said a reduction in the outflow increases the time water is retained in the pond. She thought that could be a “contributing factor” to a cynobacteria bloom.

In an email to the Friends, pond neighbor Marybeth DeNuccio of Lakecrest Drive writes: “Only citizen intervention can prevent such disasters in the future. The health of the people and the value of our properties depend on these efforts.”

DeNuccio also reminded the Friends that the group has scheduled a joint presentation with the Warwick Historical Society for Sept. 7 at 7 p.m. at the Warwick Public Library. Warwick historian Henry A.L. Brown will present a history of Warwick Pond and its watershed, including the Governor Francis Farms, Hoxsie and Spring Green sections of the city. The public is invited.