EAST PROVIDENCE — The city has received proper remit from state authorities, allowing it to respond to the troublesome algae bloom in recent years at the Squantum Pond off Veterans Memorial Parkway.

At its November 1 meeting, Department of Public Works Director Dan Borges, in response to inquiries by Councilors Nate Cahoon and Bob Rodericks, updated the body on recent developments.

The director said a treatment plan derived from the contractor hired by the city had been approved by the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council, which holds oversight of the location closely abutting the upper reaches of Narragansett Bay and at the Providence River.

Borges said CRMC, whose approval process he termed as “more stringent” than even that of the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM), signed off on the treatment plan as of the week of October 24. The director noted part of the lengthier process was due to CRMC not acknowledging certain plantings as being invasive.

The plan going forward is to begin treatment next spring and continuing into the early summer, Borges said, adding his department will soon cut a purchase order (PO) with contractor Water and Wetland to procure the chemicals required.

Borges said Water and Wetland, headquartered in Grafton, Mass., is familiar with the composition of other locals bodies, having previously treated Willett Pond in Riverside.

The cost of the materials needed, a figure provided by Cahoon, is $2,600. CRMC’s consent is for the existing treatment to last for three before it would need to be reviewed and evaluated.

Residents from the adjacent Kettle Point residential complex were first to discover and express concerns about algae formations on the body.

The bloom was initially brought to the attention of the councilors — Cahoon in whose Ward 3 district Kettle Point is located and Rodericks in his At-Large capacity — about a year ago.

Cahoon recollected the timeline of effort began in April of this year with a formal investigation of potential remedies that could work and that the CRMC might approve.

He continued, noting the contractor submitted its proposal for CRMC sign-off this past June.

Cahoon added, “then there was lots of back and forth as various biologists weighed in or didn’t weigh in until we ultimately got the approval last week.”

“I look forward to it not being a green, mucky mess,” Cahoon concluded.

Said Borges, “I do, too. You should not see a single spot of green come the spring, might see a little bit, but the treatment should remove 90 percent of it.”

Before ending his presentation Borges said the likely cause of the bloom was from untreated run-off “infiltrating” the pond via the relatively new parking area, which was renovated when the city’s Vietnam veterans memorial was moved to the site a few years ago from its former location near the Henderson Bridge.

Borges said the lot was not properly graded and lacked the correct stone sub-base and geo-textile fabric.

Rodericks asked if, as he and some residents wondered, another cause of the bloom and if aeration was a potential cure.

Borges answered, “Aeration could be an option, but treatment and addressing the parking lot issue will completely eliminate that and be a much more cost effective approach.”