Cyanobacteria Bloom Confirmed in Wainscott Pond
Days after a pondfront property owner successfully lobbied the East Hampton Town Trustees to allow increased testing of Wainscott Pond, sampling conducted by researchers from the Stony Brook University confirmed a bloom of toxic cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, there.
On Friday, Suffolk County health officials asked residents not to use or swim or wade in the pond and to keep pets and children away from the area.
Last Monday, Simon Kinsella of Wainscott asked the trustees, who manage many of the town's waterways and bottomlands on behalf of the public, to allow expanded research of the pond in order to develop remedies to its degraded water quality. He told the trustees that $179,000 had been raised to fund a study similar to that done on Georgica Pond, which, like Wainscott Pond, has suffered repeated blooms of harmful algae. At a July 18 meeting of a property owners' group, which was attended by Jim Grimes and Bill Taylor of the trustees, a plan was developed to begin research as soon as possible.
The board voted in favor of Mr. Kinsella's proposal.
Under the proposal, Christopher Gobler of Stony Brook University's School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences will expand the research of Wainscott Pond that he began for the trustees last year. Dr. Gobler has been monitoring conditions in waterways under trustee jurisdiction, including Georgica Pond, for several years. More recently, he has worked on behalf of the Friends of Georgica Pond Foundation, another group of private property owners.
The plan for Wainscott Pond was smaller in scope to the research underway at Georgica, but would include installation of a telemetry buoy that would transmit real-time data such as temperature, pH, and levels of chlorophyll, dissolved oxygen, and cyanobacteria. A telemetry buoy has been placed in Georgica Pond in the spring and summer for the last two years.
Also included in the proposed study are expanded sampling of water from both the center and multiple points at the perimeter of Wainscott Pond; core samples of the soil and sediment using a manual sampling tool, and a non-invasive study of the pond's hydrology.
Blue-green algae are naturally present in lakes and streams in low numbers, but they can become abundant, forming blooms in shades of green, blue-green, yellow, brown, or red. They may produce floating scums on the surface of the water or may cause the water to take on a paint-like appearance.
Contact with waters that appear scummy or discolored should be avoided. If contact does occur, rinse off with clean water immediately and seek medical attention if any of the following symptoms occur: nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea, skin, eye, or throat irritation, or allergic reactions or breathing difficulties.