Rust colored tide not a threat
By: The Associated Press
news@abc6.com
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Rhode Island environmental officials say rust-colored patches in local waters pose no threat to public health.
The state Department of Environmental Management (DEM) said Tuesday it has received reports of the patches, known as rust tide, in Narragansett Bay, Mt. Hope Bay and coastal salt ponds.
The DEM says the rust tide is being caused by a large bloom of naturally occurring phytoplankton.
This organism contains red photosynthetic pigments which cause the rust color visible on the water surface.
DEM Officials say rust tide is not associated with the red tide that has caused shellfish closures in other New England states.
The DEM says rust tide has been observed this summer in Peconic Bay off the eastern end of Long Island in New York and in Buzzards Bay and off Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts.
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