Algae fix in South Watuppa Pond could cost residents thousands of dollars

FALL RIVER — If area communities choose to collaborate on a solution to the toxic algae bloom in South Watuppa Pond, one city official is warning the remedies could cost some residents thousands of dollars.

As Community Utilities Administrator Terrance Sullivan explained to Fall River’s Sewer Commission Tuesday, there are two ways to help stave off the high levels of nitrogen causing the presence of blue-green algae: extend sewer lines into neighborhoods around South Watuppa Pond or start cracking down on faulty septic systems.

Both solutions, Sullivan estimated, would come at a high cost to homeowners.

Fall River could work with the towns of Westport and Tiverton to create required regular septic systems.

“The problem there is many are going to fail and that can represent a big cost to the homeowner,” said Sullivan. “Let’s say there’s a grandfathered cesspool somewhere. That’s an automatic failure on inspection and that property owner could be looking somewhere between $20,000 and $40,000 to put in a new septic system.”

The alternative of bringing sewer lines into affected neighborhoods would present a cost not only to homeowners but to taxpayers in all three communities bordering South Watuppa Pond.

Sullivan compared the work to a water and sewer line installation project that took place on Fall River's Lake Avenue several years ago.

“That alone was a million-dollar project,” he said. “In that case, many of the residents aren’t connecting (to the newly installed sewer lines) because it is very expensive to connect.”

Sullivan said each municipality could mandate that each homeowner connect their house to the sewer lines if they were installed.

South Watuppa Pond has regularly experienced algae blooms for the last 30 years, but a no-swimming advisory was put in place last summer after water testing revealed the algae presence was nearly twice the average for similar bodies of water. Swimming and boating on the water has not been banned outright, although each town is asking its residents to avoid the pond.

Contact with the water can cause a variety of negative health impacts ranging from skin and eye irritation to vomiting, diarrhea and asthma-like symptoms. Pets are also at risk of illness if exposed to water from South Watuppa Pond.

Though fertilizer or runoff from nearby farms could also be partially to blame, Sullivan estimated that 90 percent of the problem could likely be blamed on nearby septic systems.

City officials from Fall River have met with town administrators from Westport and Tiverton. A joint investment to fund a $100,000 environmental analysis had been suggested, but Sullivan said the three towns had been unable to come to an agreement on paying for it.