RIDOH and RIDEM Recommend Avoiding Contact with Little Pond; Lift Restrictions for Georgiaville Pond

The Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH) and the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (RIDEM) are advising the public to avoid contact with Little Pond in Warwick, while lifting an advisory for Georgiaville Pond in Smithfield. The advisories relate to high levels of blue-green algae, also known as cyanobacteria.

At Georgiaville Pond, recent consecutive surveys and samples confirmed absence of blue-green algae and cyanotoxin, allowing the advisory to be lifted. Health advisories remain in place for the following waterbodies:

• Cranston: Spectacle Pond
• Cranston: Blackamore Pond
• East Providence: Central Pond
• East Providence: Ten Mile River
• East Providence: Omega Pond
• Newport: Almy Pond
• North Smithfield: Tarkiln Pond
• Portsmouth: Melville Ponds
• Portsmouth: Sisson Pond
• Providence: Mashapaug Pond
• Providence: Roosevelt, Willow, Edgewood, and Pleasure Lakes, Japanese Gardens (all in Roger Williams Park)
• Rumford: Turner Reservoir
• Smithfield-Johnston: Slack Reservoir

Contact with water containing blue-green algae can cause irritation of the skin, nose, eyes, and/or throat. If water containing algal toxins is ingested, health effects can include stomach ache, diarrhea, vomiting, and nausea. Young children and pets are at greater risk than adults, due to their size and because they are more likely to drink contaminated water. Other health effects, which are rarer, include dizziness, headache, fever, liver damage, and nervous system damage. People who have been swimming in, or have otherwise been in contact with these ponds, who experience symptoms, should contact their healthcare providers.

Anyone who comes into contact with water that is under an advisory should rinse their skin with clean water as soon as possible, bathe, and wash their clothes. If a pet comes in contact with this water, the pet should be washed with clean water. Do not let the animal lick algae off of its fur. Call a veterinarian if the pet shows any symptoms of blue-green algae poisoning, which include loss of energy, loss of appetite, vomiting, diarrhea, or any unexplained sickness that occurs within a few days of contact with the water.

It is possible that blue-green algae blooms may be affecting other waterbodies in Rhode Island. The public should avoid contact with any body of water that is bright green or has a dense, floating algal mat on the water’s surface. Blue-green algae blooms may look like green paint or thick pea soup. Toxins may persist in the water after a blue-green algae bloom is no longer visible.

To report suspected blue-green algae blooms, contact RIDEM’s Office of Water Resources at 222-4700 or DEM.OWRCyano@dem.ri.gov