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Online Data Entry

Program Contacts

Program Information

Monitoring Overview

What's Monitored

Becoming a Citizen Scientist

Volunteer Training

Monitoring Schedules

Current Monitoring Sites - Including Station #
- Lakes, Ponds & Reservoirs
- Rivers & streams
- Bays, salt ponds & harbors

Link to Bathymetric Maps of Some RI Ponds

Participating Communities

Program Partners

Monitoring Manuals and
Quality Assurance
Project Plans (QAPPs)

Monitoring Data and Results

Water Quality Factsheets

Research Connections

Aquatic Invasive Species

Cyanobacteria (Algal Blooms)

Additional Resources
- Science Fair - Water Projects
- Volunteer Monitoring
- Educational - Water Facts
- Agencies (Including URI)
- Organizations

Harmful algal blooms - Cyanobacteria

Cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae, can form harmful blooms in lakes,
ponds, and rivers that make the water cloudy, sometimes even making the water look
like pea soup or as if bright green paint has been spilled into the water. Under some
circumstances these blooms may produce toxins that could make pets and people sick

To learn more:

Websites:

• Centers for Disease Control and Preventions: Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs)
  http://www.cdc.gov/hab/cyanobacteria/
• North American Lake Management Society (NALMS): Blue Green Algae - http://www.nalms.org/home/programs/blue-green-algae/blue-green-algae.cmsx
• New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission (NEIWPCC):
  Regional Cyanobacteria Workshops - http://www.neiwpcc.org/
  cyanobacteria_ workshop.asp
• Rhode Island Department of Health (RIHealth): http://www.health.ri.gov/healthrisks/poisoning/cyanobacteria/index.php
• Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management Bay Assessment
  & Response Team (marine algal blooms) - http://www.dem.ri.gov/bart/habs.htm
• Bowdoin College workshop "Cyanobacteria and Human Health: Merging Ecology, Epidemiology and Neurologic Disorders" - (includes links to presentations, abstracts and participant contact lists) - http://www.bowdoin.edu/earth-oceanographic-science/workshops/index.shtml
• New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services:
  • Recreational Exposure to Cyanobacteria (Blue-Green Algae) website -
    http://des.nh.gov/organization/divisions/water/wmb/beaches/
    cyano_bacteria.htm
  • Environmental Fact Sheet: Potential Dangers of Cyanobacteria in New
    Hampshire Waters -
    http://des.nh.gov/organization/commissioner/pip/factsheets/wmb/
    documents/wmb-10.pdf

Factsheets and other resources:

• Warning poster for pet owners -
  http://www.dem.ri.gov/programs/bnatres/agricult/pdf/algaepostr.pdf
• Massachusetts Department of Public Health – Harmful Algae Blooms in
  Fresh Water brochure - http://www.mass.gov/Eeohhs2/docs/dph/environmental/
  exposure/algae/ algae_fresh_water_brochure.pdf
• Charles River Watershed Association - Cyanobacteria/”Blue-Green” Algae
  Fact Sheet http://www.crwa.org/water_quality/algae/Blue-green%20algae
  %20fact%20sheet.pdf
• California Environmental Protection Agency – State Water Resources Control Board Blue-green Algae (Cyanobacteria) Fact Sheet
  http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/bluegreen_algae/docs/
  workgroup110805/shortfactcdcsheet.pdf
• Penobscot Nation – Cyanobacteria Fact Sheet - http://www.penobscotnation.org/
  DNR/2007CyanoFactSheet.pdf
• New York Department of Health - Information Bulletin - Blue-green Algae http://www.health.ny.gov/environmental/water/drinking/bluegreenalgae.pdf

Harmful algal bloom - Trustom Pond 2011, photo by D. Stolley