About five years ago we reported with relief that Little Compton’s Watson Reservoir and Tiverton’s Stafford Pond Reservoir were due for new levels of state protection. The effort was to target algae blooms and bacteria that threaten water supplies and public health at both places.

Update: Algae and bacteria are doing better than ever in these often fetid farm ponds, now even in winter at Watson.

Two weeks ago, the state announced that it was lifting blue-green algae alerts from a dozen bodies of water — everyplace except Watson Reservoir where not even winter’s cold had managed to kill off slime so toxic that it’s capable of killing any dog silly enough to swim in it.

An obvious Watson “Reservoir” culprit is farm waste, one expert said — not merely fertilizer but also fungicides that kill off ponds’ natural protection against runaway algae growth.

These two ponds have long been an odd couple among reservoirs.

At most reservoirs, people and pets must keep their distance or risk arrest. Boats, even rowboats and canoes, are forbidden.

Not at Stafford. People and pets can visit anytime, fishing is fine, and there’s even a boat ramp to make things easier. Boat motors are okay here as well; rules limit gasoline-fueled horsepower to 10 — except for those with private access to the pond.

And, says the RI Department of Health website, “scattered commercial development, waste disposal sites, and dense shoreline development in Stafford Pond magnify pollution risks.” High nutrient levels are “overfertilzing” the pond, the state adds.
The state has long been conflicted when it comes to Stafford Pond, with obligations both to the protection of drinking water and to the needs of fishermen who buy licenses. Too often the cause of safe drinking water has come up on the short end of this equation.

Eight thousand-plus people and several schools get their water from Stafford Pond ‘reservoir.’  And Watson Reservoir is a stand-by supply for many thousands more on Aquidneck Island.

This drinking water isn't protected to reservoir standards. 

In fact, it's scarcely protected at all.