Monponsett Pond - Algae Update - July 23

From Cathy Drinan of the Halifax Board of Health:

The algae counts over DPH's threshold continues for the West Monponsett Pond, keeping that pond closed to swimming, boating, water skiing, etc. Please don't let your dog drink it, either. A water sample was collected at 4th Ave Beach on West Monponsett Pond on Tuesday, July 21st. Laboratory analysis showed cyanobacteria levels of 170,000 cells/ml, above the MDPH guideline level of 70,000 cells/ml. Microcystin toxin was not detected. MDPH recommends that the current advisory remain in place. Sampling will occur at the water body again on July 28th."

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Charlie Seelig, Town Administrator: The Tuesday, July 28 test results will not be available until Thursday, July 30 and it will require "clean" results for that test plus the test on Tuesday, August 4 (available on Thursday, August 6) to lift the advisory. West Monponsett was treated with aluminum sulfate today (Thursday, July 23), but that probably will not have an immediate effect. With the higher temperatures, relatively low water level, and lack of rain (1/4 inch in the last 10 days), it is unlikely that these numbers will decrease unless one or more of those conditions change.