SWAMPSCOTT — Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald recently gave an update on the happenings of the King’s Beach Steering Committee.
The committee, first formed in 2021, had the goal of uniting leaders from Swampscott, Lynn and the state, in an effort to improve the water quality of King’s Beach. Along with Fitzgerald, Director of Public Works Gino Cresta also represents the town. Lynn members include Mayor Jared Nicholson and Water and Sewer Commissioner Dan O’Neill. State Reps. Jenny Armini, Sean Reid, Dan Cahill and Peter Capano and State Sen. Brendan Crighton are also members.
Fitzgerald named technologies such as ultraviolet light, ozone and peroxyacetic acid as potential solutions that he and his fellow committee members have had tested.
“DEP (Department of Environmental Protection) feels as though all of these technologies would be harmful to the microbiome of the shellfish,” Fitzgerald said.
He described ultraviolet light as “problematic,” and voiced his support for the construction of an outfall pipe.
“Let’s start advancing some of those efforts to really get state and federal funds to help protect people and restore that beach back to its prominence,” Fitzgerald said about garnering resources for an outfall.
Resident and co-founder of Save King’s Beach Andrea Amour expressed her support for UV-related solutions and expressed gratitude for the work the committee has put in thus far. However, she called for it to hold its meetings in public, citing her belief that Fitzgerald’s report reflects solely his opinion as opposed to the entire committee.
“I think the public has really lost faith with the process and is asking to be able to follow along,” Amour said. “They’ve done four out of six tests with the UV and all of them came back good.”
According to Amour, the one notable UV test that has not been completed is that of turbidity, which gauges the method’s effectiveness during storms.
“Even if UV doesn’t work on those big storm days, is it working on the other 90 percent of the days?” Amour asked rhetorically. “Because that would be still significantly better than what we have now.”
She expressed her fear that the outfall solution may not get authorized, because “all it’s doing is pushing pollution out into the ocean.”
In May, the town welcomed Green Water Solutions to demonstrate ozone water cleansing technology.
