Well, summer in New Jersey means long, hot days and a constant threat of severe weather.

Both were in full force yesterday as temperatures pushed into the mid 90s across the state before giving way to thunderstorms.

The combination of hot, sunny days and intense rain feeds a lingering problem in the state's lakes and ponds.

Harmful algaal blooms where toxic bacteria can reach dangerous levels in the water.

The blooms can force swimming beaches to close and keep visitors away from towns that depend on tourists being able to enjoy going out in the water.

It's become a serious problem in recent years.

Correspondent Ted Goldberg has been visiting lakes around North Jersey to check out the situation today and he joins me now.

Ted, what can you tell us?

Yeah, Bri, I'm here at Orange Reservoir where there's currently no advisory or warning for harmful algal blooms or HABs.

But if you look at the water, there is that distinctive bluish greenish hue that is so associated with haps.

Although as a researcher from Monontlair tells me, it's not enough to just look at the water and know if it's dangerous.

The results of Santaacteria concentration can only be uh obtained through laboratory testing.

Dr. May and Woo heads the New Jersey Center for Water Science and Technology at Monontlair State where they study among other things habs.

By eyeballing it, you might see some green color, but you can't really uh say for sure what are the concentration level.

She says hotter weather and frequent storms are a perfect recipe for habs to grow.

Two things climate change has made more intense across the state.

Blooms are made of cyanobacteria, a group of bacteria that become dangerous for people and dogs at high concentrations.

Measuring the toxicity level for an entire reservoir or lake isn't so simple.

It could be like concentrating more on the shore.

However, the next minute the wind might change the direction or the paddler can actually uh ride the paddle boat, create current and then move the cyanobacteria to another location.

So how much cyanobacteria is too much?

That is actually a very tricky question.

Different bacteria produce different type of cyanotoxin.

While some can all cause very minor symptoms such as skin irritation, some will actually damage our liver.

When it gets more intense like it is down at Spruce Run, where there are enough uh toxins to to affect humans just by just by skin contact, then then they really have to close.

Spruce Run Recreation Area used to be a nice spot to swim, but the state park service decided this summer to permanently retire this beach after persistent HAB levels over the past six years.

The park service is now looking elsewhere at Spruce Run for swimming options.

Elliot Rugo works for the New Jersey Highlands Coalition and says New Jerseyy's frequent storms have fed into the growth of HAB statewide.

Storm water washes over road surfaces and golf courses and people's backyards and they pick up whatever happens to be floating around and in many cases that includes fertilizers and herbicides and those fertilizers have high uh nutrient value.

One of the sites the D has tagged with a HAB advisory is Bud Lake Beach Park which is closed this summer for major renovations.

Andrew Tatareno is the business administrator for Mount Olive and says the township has hired a lake consultant to manage New Jersey's largest natural springfed lake.

Unfortunately, due to the oxygen levels in the lake, um they really can't treat it now because that'll just impact the the fishery and potentially kill off a lot of the the fish that are there now.

You know, the lake is a a natural, you know, ecosystem, so it's it's very complicated to to treat.

Ruga says people can reduce habs by intercepting storm water before it reaches reservoirs and lakes.

Mount Olive has used state and federal grants to upgrade catch basins within the watershed.

And Ruga says rain gardens would also be a big help.

And how do you pay for that?

There's there's a bill that passed a couple years ago in the legislature which allows municipalities or groups of municipalities or with counties to form storm water utilities in the places where this is most prevalent say around Lake of Pacong and and in the highlands.

The legislators are calling it a rain tax and want nothing to do with it.

Dr. Drew Woo says people who go fishing should wash their gear if they're near blue green algae and that people should pay close attention to kids who play near it.

In Essex County, I'm Ted Goldberg, NJ Spotlight News.

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