SWAMPSCOTT — Community members from Swampscott and Lynn congregated at Stacey’s Brook on Tuesday evening for a stand-out protest to raise awareness about water-quality issues at King’s Beach.
Girl Scouts from three Swampscott troops headlined the attendees. Troop 67141 created a website called Swim Safe, Swampscott that includes links to water-quality testing dashboards of both the town and the state, as well as an educational video created by the troop in which members discuss the importance of consistent water-quality testing at beaches.
“It affects the world, and we want kids our age and kids younger than us to be able to grow up and use it,” Troop 67141 member Emerson Rose, 11, said about why the cause is important to her.
Cordelia Delano, 8, of Troop 64473 added that she wants the water to be cleaner for the animals that inhabit it, such as the whale that was recently spotted offshore.
Save King’s Beach co-founder and Swampscott resident Andrea Amour was a driving force behind the event. She expressed gratitude for the recent progress made by both Swampscott and Lynn, however, she implored the Department of Conservation and Recreation to take more initiative, and cited her group’s requests for multilingual signs to alert visitors of the beach’s condition. She also advocated for there to be an employee who can advise and inform people about the status of the beach’s water.
“We actually had a Save King’s Beach member write a story in our Facebook group where she went up to three separate non-English-speaking families and let them know that this is a polluted beach,” Amour said. “They were very grateful and very thankful. They had no idea and they all left.”
Other participants at the stand-out protest included Lorraine Stockley, who recently moved to Swampscott from Temple, N.H. and was “horrified” to learn about the contamination upon her arrival. Lynn resident Laurie Kotkowski encouraged her city to expedite its efforts to improve the situation.
“This has gone on for decades, not just months and years,” Kotkowski said. “I believe the mayor is focused on it… but it’s just too slow. I know we can do it.”
The group held homemade advocacy signs for an hour as hundreds of cars passed by. Troop 67141’s Mae Delano, 11, was happy to report that they received more than 100 honks in support.
Swim Safe, Swampscott can be visited at https://linktr.ee/SwimSafeSwampscott .
