SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. (WPRI) — Researchers at the University of Rhode Island have found that last year’s exceptionally dry summer affected the water quality in local ponds, lakes and rivers.

According to URI’s Watershed Watch Program, which helps monitor local bodies of water, some water quality changed for the better—others for the worse.

Program director Elizabeth Herron said the quality improved at some sites because pollutants weren’t entering the water during rainfall. However, other sites lost the benefits of rainfall washing out pollutants as well.

“The warm weather also seemed to help drive harmful algal blooms, with some lasting well into the fall,” Herron explained.

Researchers predict that the wetter-than-normal fall and winter that followed will also have an impact once that data is analyzed.

The program currently monitors 259 bodies of water throughout Rhode Island, Southeastern Massachusetts, and Southeastern Connecticut.