Sure, it looks delicious, but stay away. The Department of Parks and Recreation has issued this advisory.

The Rhode Island Department of Health has issued a health advisory for Roger Williams Park Ponds based on evidence of a bloom of cyanobacteria, better known as blue-green algae. This algae can be harmful to people and animals if touched or ingested.

The Providence Parks Department urges residents to take caution around the Roger Williams Park Ponds.

According to the Department of Health website this advisory is based on sampling conducted on August 16 and 17 by a DEM contractor. Health effects include stomach ache, diarrhea, vomiting and nausea.

People are advised to avoid contact with waters that exhibit the following conditions: bright green coloration in the water or at the water surface and/or dense floating algal mats that form on the water’s surface. The water may look like green paint, thick pea soup, or green cottage cheese.

Might have figured that out.

The second best way to quench your thirst in Providence? Tap water. The 2011 Consumer Confidence Report (CCR) from the Providence Water Supply Board (PWSB) has been arriving in mailboxes around town. Thousands of water samples are tested every year and the Scituate Reservoir is still cranking out the good stuff. (Elevated levels of lead triggered an earlier mailing, but this is more a problem of contact with old pipes and plumbing components. Lead pipe water service connections are being replaced all over to help with that, and there are things you can do in your own home.)

But here is the part of the brochure I find galling; the section “Tap vs. Bottled Water” starts,

Did you know that if you drank your recommended eight glasses of water a day from bottled water, it would cost up to $1400 for a year’s supply? That same amount of tap water would cost only about $0.50.

While I am thrilled to have people examining their bottled water purchases, can we once and for all put a stake through the heart of this “eight glasses of water a day” myth.  Who exactly has been “recommending” this?  Are there any scientific medical studies backing up this claim? No, it is the purveyors of bottled water who keep this going. (HuffPo 7.14.11)

The health recommendation to drink six to eight glasses of water a day is “thoroughly debunked nonsense,” a doctor wrote this week in a commentary in the British Medical Journal.

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Part of the excitement of swimming in the ocean is the terror of the unknown underneath the surface of our churning, murky Atlantic. When my sisters and I were kids paddling in the waves, we would always end up singing a cheery, musical ditty we made up that goes “Swimming in the ocean, drowning in the sea”. To this day we sing our personal one-line melody when swimming. It innocently hints at the seductive mix of surreal beauty and dangerous grotesquery hidden below the water’s surface.

This inspired the new show “Mermaids: Urbane & Arcane” opening this Thursday at Firehouse 13 and running through August 1st. No cutesy Disney mermaids or tourist pleasing pretties here. It will showcase art work made for the show from Valerie Kitchin, Victoria Lockard and Jessie Lee Perry. My sisters are models in some of Valerie Kitchin’s luscious photographs. Expect an aquatic carnival vibe, with performance art by Awesome Science and a short film from Moira Brady and Brian Birch.

Party on from 9pm to 1am with electronic dance music and aquatic videography from DJs Christopher Wade (from LoveLife), Tim Howe and Danny Satori. The cover is $3 for those arriving after the opening show, cash bar.

6pm to 9pm, Thursday, Firehouse 13, contact; mermaids.providence@gmail.com

The Providence Water Supply Board (PWSB) has embarked on Phase III of the Lead Service Replacement (LSR) project. The purpose: to replace lead public side service lines (those lines that connect the home’s plumbing to the main water line) with copper.  Consumption of lead in drinking water can result in serious health risks.

According to a recent PWSB news release, Phase III represents the 3rd year of a 15 year effort to replace more than 25,000 lead service lines with copper.  So far, 5,289 connections have been changed. An additional 1,800 are planned to be changed as part of Phase III, at a cost of $3,735 per service , which will likely be paid for, in part, by the planned rate increase.

I was curious to see if I have lead service piping, so I called the LSR hotline (1-877-797-2267) to find out, and, lo and behold, I do.   According to the representative, there are no plans as of yet to replace my line. If I wanted it replaced without waiting for the next phase to come around, I would first need to change over the lead lines in my home and the PWSB would then change the public side line once notified.

If you have lead service pipes, you can run the water a little before drinking it, avoid drinking it warm, and get it tested.  Otherwise, I suppose you could consume less of it, which would be a good thing anyway, considering the upcoming rate hike.