Portsmouth Residents Being Warned To Avoid Upper Melville Pond

PORTSMOUTH, RI – State health and environmental officials are urging local residents to avoid contact with Upper Melville Pond until further notice due to a bloom of blue-green algae that has been evident at the pond since earlier this summer, officials announced Thursday.

Signs were posted at on the pond, known more commonly as Thurston Pond, earlier this summer warning residents that elevated levels of the algae increased the possibility of the presence of toxins, officials from the Rhode Island Department of Health and Department of Environmental Management said in a news release.

In addition to not making contact with the pond, officials also warn that residents should be careful not to ingest water or eat fish from the pond and that all recreation - including fishing, boating, and kayaking, should be avoided. Animals who may ingest pond water are especially at risk from exposure to the algal toxins, officials said in the news release, and pet owners should not allow their animals to drink or swim in the water.

Skin contact with water containing blue-green algae commonly causes irritation of the skin, nose, eyes, and or throat. Common health effects associated with ingesting water containing algal toxins include stomachache, diarrhea, vomiting, and nausea. Rarer health effects include dizziness, headache, fever, liver damage, and nervous system damage.

Young children and pets are at a particular risk for health effects associated with algal toxins. People who have had contact with Melville Pond and experience those symptoms should contact their healthcare provider.

If residents come into contact with the water, they should rinse their skin with clean water as soon as possible and, when they return from the pond, should take a shower and wash their clothes. Similarly, if pets comes into contact with the water, they should immediately be washed with clean water.

People are cautioned that toxins may persist in the water after the blue-green algae bloom is no longer visible. It is possible that blue-green algae blooms may be affecting other waterbodies in Rhode Island. People are advised to avoid contact with waterbodies that exhibit bright green coloration in the water or at the water surface and dense floating algal mats that form on the water's surface. The water may look like green paint, thick pea soup, or green cottage cheese, officials said.

For more information and a list of current and historical advisories, go to www.dem.ri.gov/bluegreen Please send reports of suspected blue-green algae blooms, along with photographs, if possible to DEM.OWRCyano@dem.ri.gov.