South Portland announced Monday that pet owners should keep dogs out of the ponds in Hinckley Park after discovering the presence of cyanobacteria. The harmful algal blooms can make both people and pets sick, and can even result in the death of pets when ingested.
Fred Dillon, the city's stormwater program coordinator, says cyanobacteria has been found in the ponds for the past several years and it could persist until cooler weather in the fall.
"One of the main drivers in a lot of Maine lakes for algal blooms like cyanobacteria can often be heavily eroding soils, and we have quite a bit of that around the perimeter of the ponds at Hinckley Park," says Dillon.
To prevent future algal blooms caused by erosion, Dillon says the city is growing native plants along the ponds' shorelines. It's also trying to determine whether upstream sources of phosphorous, such as runoff and fertilizer, are contributing to the problem.
