REVERE — Save the Harbor/Save the Bay welcomed U.S. House Minority Whip Katherine Clark, the Department of Conservation and Recreation, and state and local leaders to the reveal of its 2023 Beach Season Water Quality Report Card at Revere Beach on Monday.
The report card grades the bacterial safety level of 15 beaches in the greater Boston area, based on data gathered with the help of the DCR, on a scale of 1 to 100% each year. 13 of the 15 beaches received an overall satisfactory rating, with their grades ranging from 76% all the way to 100%.
Clark, whose district includes Revere, took to the podium to urge the community to not take the beaches for granted.
“These public lands are never guaranteed. It has to be defended year after year,” Clark said. “I am so grateful to the advocates like Chris (Mancini, the executive director of Save the Harbor/Save the Bay) and the tools like this report card to mobilize action.”
Despite the positive results from the majority of the beaches, King’s Beach’s rating of 55% last year was the lowest grade for any of the 15 oceanside locations in a single year dating back to 2018.
In the case of King’s Beach, which is located in Lynn and Swampscott, heavy rainfall causes stormwater to flood Lynn’s combined water and sewer pipe systems. The overflow results in volumes of either raw or partially treated sewage being pumped into the beach through combined sewer overflow locations.
Save King’s Beach co-founder and Swampscott resident Andrea Amour expressed frustration with King’s Beach’s result in comparison to the other beaches. She referenced the $5 billion wastewater treatment plant on Deer Island as an example to demonstrate that more resources can be allocated to King’s Beach.
“All we keep being told at King’s Beach is we don’t have enough money,” Amour said. “We spent $5 billion connecting 42 cities worth of sewage. You can’t tell me that we can’t find a solution for one stream in Lynn.”
Mancini gave credit to Lynn and Swampscott for their ongoing concerted effort to find a solution at the municipal level.
“Swampscott and Lynn are really working together. They’re really on top of this, they’ve got multi-year plans for fixing pipes,” Mancini said. “Everyone’s trying to get this done… it’s a really difficult situation.”
Nahant Beach received a satisfactory safety rating of 80% for 2023. However, when compared to some previous years in which its score was greater than 90%, its condition has worsened. According to Mancini, the southern end of the beach remains especially clean while the northern end has accumulated algae and is in closer proximity to an outfall.
Nahant Town Administrator Tony Barletta expressed gratitude to Save the Harbor/Save the Bay and the DCR for their efforts to keep North Shore beaches clean, and emphasized that the cleanliness of Nahant Beach remains crucial.
“It’s important to us that the beach is clean, that it’s well-maintained, that it’s open and accessible and that the water is safe,” Barletta said. “Not just for residents in Nahant, but for visitors of the reservation.”
