The state issued an advisory Tuesday, warning people to avoid contact with the algal blooms currently plaguing the Pamlico River and its tributaries.

The press release comes after the height of the blooms late last week, when large areas of the Pamlico River from Broad Creek to Chocowinity Bay were inundated with algae, turning the Pamlico a bright green color. According to Pamlico-Tar riverkeeper Heather Deck, the algal blooms are less widespread, but there are still pockets of algal blooms up and down the river.

“Some areas look better, but because it’s going to be hot and dry this week, it can change hourly,” Deck said.

According to the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality press release, three types of filamentous bluegreen algae have been identified in the Pamlico River area: Pseudanabaena, Dolichospermum spiroides and Cylindrospermopsis. Dolichospermum can produce toxins, but there is no evidence that that has occurred in North Carolina waters. However, the abundance of algae in the water can serve as an irritant.

“The biggest thing is, for folks it can be a skin irritant; it can be a respiratory irritant if there’s enough present,” Deck said.

The DEQ press release states that children and pets should be kept away from swimming in or ingesting water that appears “bright green, discolored or scummy” and not handle large mats of algae. If a child or pet appears to be ill, and in the case of pets, to stumble, stagger or collapse, after contact with water containing an algal bloom, seek medical or veterinary care immediately, the release states.

Deck stressed that blooms change on a daily and even hourly basis, especially with intense sunlight, heat and rain. For example, last week the river at Swan Point, east of Washington, was an extremely bright green of an algal bloom, whereas Monday there was no visible evidence of one.

“It’s hard to predict how the river is going to react,” Deck said. “But if you’re out there and it starts to look green, don’t panic. Just get out and wash off.”

A byproduct of the abundance of algae is when it dies off, decomposition causes the oxygen levels to plummet, which burdens the immune systems of vulnerable aquatic species. Deck said she’s had reports of fish kills of 4- to 6-inch juvenile menhaden, particularly around the Core Point area on the south side of the Pamlico River, west of Aurora.

Deck said one of her concerns was the state’s silence on the algal blooms last week, even as she fielded many phone calls from residents and visitors concerned about swimming in the river or eating fish and shellfish from local waters.

“Why did we have an entire week and a weekend with people out there without any official statement from the state?” Deck asked. “There really does seem to be a need for a portal for information. … I hope the state will take the opportunity to come up with a better process to respond to the public.”

Jill Paxson, an environmental senior specialist with Division of Water Resources, said the state is working on streamlining a process to regularly field test waterbodies for toxins, rather than relying on residents’ calls to prompt DWR to come to a site to sample suspect water. Paxson said the intensity of this summer’s algal blooms has drawn attention from researchers.

“There are new academia that are interested in it. We’ve never had a chronic issue to the point that it’s piqued the interest of researchers,” Paxson said.

Deck said the river’s ongoing algal bloom issue is ultimately a call to action.

“This is something I’ve never seen before. On the one good hand, it’s not like we’ve seen the bluegreen (algae) every year,” Deck said. “We know, with a change in climate, the warmth, it will go away, but we’re seeing this in greater frequency all across the United States.”

Algal blooms thrive on pollutants such as nitrogen and phosphorous found in crop and law fertilizers that rain sweeps into the waterways, which Deck said is an environmental issue that can be tackled on a local level.

“We can’t control big climate issues, but we can control nutrient pollution,” Deck said.

For more information on the potential health effects from algal blooms, visit the N.C. Division of Public Health’s website at epi.publichealth.nc.gov/oee/algae/protect.html. To learn more about algae, visit the state environmental agency’s website at deq.nc.gov/about/divisions/water-resources/water-resources-data/water-sciences-home-page/ecosystems-branch/algal-blooms.