The Joint Legislative Fiscal Committee on Friday approved $500,000 in federal funds to address cyanobacteria blooms, the often-toxic growths that can pose health risks to pets and humans.

The Department of Environmental Services was awarded the funds from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, a $1.9 trillion pandemic stimulus package. The money will be used to help address cyanobacteria problems on the local level. Gov. Chris Sununu stressed to the fiscal committee last week that little time remained to greenlight use of the money.

“The clock has run out, as I’ve said many times, in terms of the use of this ARPA money,” Sununu said. He said Friday was effectively the last time the legislative committee could approve uses of the funds. It approved a number of other requests related to the federal money.

Dozens of cyanobacteria warnings were issued across the state in the warmer months of this year, when blooms are more common. Cyanotoxins can cause rashes, fevers, headaches, mouth blisters, vomiting, acute liver damage, and more, according to DES. They can also kill pets.

Sununu called cyanobacteria “a very public issue we all hear about every day.”

While Sununu commended the Legislature for putting funding toward the issue and DES for moving remediation projects forward, he noted that “a lot of the smaller towns don’t have the funds to figure out how bad the problem is.”

This money will allow them to do studies to figure out the extent of their cyanobacteria issues and how best to address them, Sununu said. The funds will be routed through the New Hampshire Lakes Association, he said, which will coordinate with local lake associations and towns. — CLAIRE SULLIVAN/NH BULLETIN