Greater Boston Beaches Receive Water Quality Ratings for 2020

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A Massachusetts nonprofit advocacy group released its annual report on water quality for beaches in the greater Boston area. Save the Harbor / Save the Bay released its monitoring data on Sunday. 2020 beach season for metropolitan beaches from Nahant Beach to Nantasket Beach in Hull. According to the bulletin, the overall water quality safety rating for the Boston Harbor regional beaches that are managed by the state’s Department of Conservation and Recreation was 93% in 2020, which represents an improvement over the score of 89% the previous year. Five beaches achieved perfect water quality scores of 100% in 2020. Pleasure Bay, in south Boston, achieved a perfect score for the fourth year in a row, while two other beaches in south Boston, City Point and Carson, had perfect scores for the second year in a row. Revere Beach and Winthrop Beach also achieved 100% scores. Eight other beaches scored between 85% and 98%, while water quality continues to lag at Tenean Beach in Dorchester (79%) and King’s Beach in Lynn and Swampscott (70% ). . “While we are delighted with the progress we have made on most of the public beaches in the area, we are disappointed to report that Tenean Beach in Dorchester and King’s Beach in Lynn and Swampscott were still unsafe for swimming for more than one day. person in five. days in 2020, ”Save the Harbor / Save the Bay executive director Chris Mancini said in a statement. “We are particularly concerned about the situation at King’s Beach, where the dirty and bacteria-laden dumpsites of Lynn and Swampscott in Stacey Brook continue to threaten public health.” “Our children and families deserve better,” added Mancini. “Today we are calling on the Lynn Water and Sewer Commission and the Swampscott Water and Sewer Department to work with Save the Harbor / Save the Bay, state and federal regulators and the community to save King’s Beach which is a recreational asset. essential for Lynn’s children and families. This is an environmental justice issue in a diverse and dense city where healthy green and blue spaces are essential. “According to Save the Harbor / Save the Bay, the safety scores ranges are calculated as the percentage of water samples that meet the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s Limit for a Single Sample of Bacteria. The organization notes that precipitation can have a significant impact on water quality range and can vary widely from year to year, and that changes in the frequency and intensity of summer storms can often account for variations from year to year. year to year. For example, 2020 has been a relatively dry year with only a few large summer storms and relatively fewer wet weather impacts. Additionally, some beaches are tested daily while others are tested weekly, so a single failed test can change a range’s rating in some cases. For these reasons, Save the Harbor / Save the Bay prefers to rely on multi-year averages rather than drawing conclusions from results for individuals Based on the group’s six-year average safety score (2015-2020) , the 15 beaches evaluated have a score of 93% and 13 of them have a score of 89% or better, eight of which have a score of 95% or more. The two beaches with the worst six-year average score were King’s Beach (79%) and Tenean Beach (78%). Save the Harbor / Save the Bay reports that weekly water quality testing at Boston’s regional beaches began in late May 2020. Daily testing at Constitution Beach, King’s Beach, Malibu Beach, Tenean Beach and Wollaston Beach has started early June and ended on Labor Day weekend, September 6, 2020. While releasing this year’s Water Quality Report, Save the Harbor / Save the Bay also shared its concerns about the accuracy of beach signage and posting protocols, where bacteria testing triggers bathing advisories. According to the organization’s director of strategy and communications, Bruce Berman, posts are always a day late as beach managers have to wait up to 36 hours for test results. With the ability of beach water quality to change significantly during this time period, yesterday’s test results often do not reflect current conditions. In 2019, the DPH made further changes to beach posting and signage protocols, resulting in additional days where beaches are unnecessarily posted with bathing advisories when they are, in fact, safe. for swimming, according to Berman. “While Save the Harbor recognizes the importance of protecting public health, the current system is often inaccurate and sometimes too restrictive,” Berman said in a statement. “Over the next few months, we plan to work with consultant Kelly Coughlin of Stony Brook Partners, and with the Department of Conservation and Recreation, the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, the US Environmental Protection Agency and Massachusetts DPH to develop new precipitation. thresholds and protocols to improve reporting and display accuracy. Save the Harbor / Save the Bay is currently urging beach goers to use common sense when swimming after summer storms and use multi-year average safety ratings to help decide when and where it’s safe to swim .

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