‘PEA-GREEN SOUP’
Algae blooms in Wallkill River prompt warning from two environmental groups
Algae blooms in the Wallkill River that look like green slime have prompted two environmental advocacy groups to warn that people should not come in contact with the river’s water from Rifton to Gardiner.
“Our rivers aren’t supposed to turn bright green and be toxic,” said Dan Shapely, water quality program manager for the group Riverkeeper. “This is a real wakeup call and a rallying cry for us to start to take actions necessary to clean up the Wallkill.”
The warning, issued Thursday, came from Riverkeeper and the Wallkill River Watershed Alliance. The algae, known in the scientific community as microcystis, emits toxins that are harmful to people. The current bloom has been observed in the river for about two weeks and appears to be concentrated in the New Paltz section of the river.
“We see that the extent and density of it in New Paltz is the heart of it and it’s not the same bank-tobank pea-green soup in Gardiner or Rifton that it is in New Paltz right now,” Shapley said.
The two groups cited a number of health risks from coming in contact with the algae.
“If you just touch the water
... you might have a skin rash ... upset stomach, diarrhea, nausea,” Shapley said. “... Some of these algae blooms ... can cause some serious neurological problems — dizziness, fainting, that kind of thing.”
Shapley also urged pet owners to keep their animals away from the river.
“Dogs are particularly susceptible because a dog is not as wary of water that doesn’t look good and might jump right in,” he said. “Dogs around the country have been dying
from diving in and jumping into these pools.”
State Department of Environmental Conservation spokesman Sean Mahar said the department has been “in regular communication with the Wallkill River Watershed Alliance over the past week regarding this algae bloom and continue to monitor the situation.”
Mahar also said the department has “devised a sampling plan” with the alliance to confirm the type of algae and will add the
Wallkill River to its Harmful Algal Bloom notification page this week. It will be classified as a “suspicious bloom” pending results of a lab analysis, he said.
The Department of Environmental Conservation website says cyanobacteria, also known as bluegreen algae, produce the most common water body blooms in the state.
“Sometimes, depending on environmental conditions, cyanobacteria can grow very quickly and produce blooms with high
numbers of cells,” the website states.
It also says algae blooms “can reduce the recreational value of a water body, due to unpleasant appearances and odors” and “cause a variety of ecological problems, such as reduced oxygen levels.” Shapley said humans are partly to blame for algae blooms.
“There are three main ingredients for an algae bloom like this,” he said. “That would be warm water temperatures, slow or still water and an excess of
nutrients. Nutrients would come from sewage, whether that’s treated or untreated, any fertilizers that they use on farms or fertilizers that are used on lawns.”
Algae blooms typically disappear when the weather turns cooler, but Shapley said future occurrences will likely be larger and last longer due to climate change.
“All the predictions are ... that because temperature is one of the triggers ... they would be more frequent in future,” he said.