Region 1: EPA New England
Pollution Reduction Efforts Paying Off for New England's Beaches
Note: EPA no longer updates this information, but it may be useful as a reference or resource.
By Robert W. Varney
July 15, 2004
In Provincetown on Cape Cod, a new municipal sewage treatment plant last year replaced hundreds of antiquated septic systems that were polluting nearby Ryder Street Beach. The new facility, combined with improved storm water treatment and public education about picking up pet waste, increased the safety of swimmers at Ryder Beach and other harbor beaches.
Further north in Quincy, Wollaston Beach has seen water quality improvements and reduced closures, largely a result of a $24 million investment by the city to repair leaking sewer pipes along the beach. Strong support also is coming from the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, which is taking daily water samples at Wollaston and replacing more than 100 dilapidated catch basins.
Across Massachusetts and New England, a three-year-old program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has led to better monitoring programs, more aggressive pollution removal and improved public notification about swimming conditions, which have made our region's beaches safer, cleaner and more enjoyable for millions of residents and visitors.
This year, as in the past three years, EPA is providing $1.2 million to New England's five coastal states to improve water quality monitoring at beaches and better notify the public about pollution problems. Massachusetts will receive $257,220 this year.
Last summer, 230 of the region's freshwater and saltwater beaches were closed at least one day from pollution, for a total of over 1,900 missed beach days. That's a tangible improvement from 2001, when the region's coastal and freshwater beaches were closed more than 2,400 beach days. In Massachusetts, the number of beach day closures at saltwater beaches fell from 647 in 2001 to 559 last year.
Still, these numbers are unacceptable and EPA New England, in coordination with municipalities and the states, remains committed to its Clean New England Beaches Initiative to eliminate "No Swimming" days. In addition to funding support, the initiative includes an increased focus on pollution assessment work, technical assistance and designating "Flagship" beaches that serve as models for improving beach water quality.
The initiative builds on significant improvements that have already been made in overall water quality and swimming beach monitoring programs. Massachusetts, for example, has seen enormous water quality improvements in its rivers, harbors and bays, with Boston Harbor being the most obvious example. And these improvements have spawned renewed public attention on reopening areas to swimming -- attention that has led to more frequent and more sophisticated water quality monitoring to ensure that people are not at risk when they go for a swim.
Under Massachusetts law, swimming beaches must be closed when bacteria levels are too high. Bacterial pollution can come from a variety of sources, including storm water runoff, untreated sewage, combined sewer overflows, failing septic systems, leaking sewer pipes and even animal waste from pets and wildlife. Exposure to these pollutants can cause minor illnesses such as gastroenteritis or, more rarely, serious diseases such as hepatitis.
EPA is strongly committed to helping municipalities and state agencies reverse these trends. One way is by promoting pollution assessment technologies through a newly-created regional workgroup of technical experts and scientists. We're also providing technical assistance -- and, where appropriate, enforcement support -- to help local and state agencies to identify and reduce pollution sources. A primary focus in this regard is finding nonpoint pollution sources such as leaking sewers, illicit connections and runoff which can wreak havoc on water quality both in dry weather and wet weather.
We're also looking to our Flagship beaches to lead the way -- both in setting the bar in running effective beach monitoring programs and in showing a commitment to take the tough steps necessary to eliminate pollution sources that are undermining water quality.
Wollaston Beach is among the beaches we have in mind -- one of three "Flagship" beaches in the Bay State, along with Provincetown's Ryder Street Beach and Salem's city beaches. Quincy's strong leadership in repairing and replacing six miles of leaking sewer pipes along Wollaston Beach has led to tangible water quality improvements. Last year 11 percent of the water samples collected from Wollaston Beach had unhealthy bacteria levels -- a marked improvement from 15 percent in 2001.
Similar improvements have been seen at Salem's Willows Pier Beach, where eight percent of the water samples collected last summer had high bacteria levels compared to 24 percent in 2001. The turnaround is largely the result of best management practices by the city of Salem to reduce storm water discharges near the beach. And at Provincetown's Ryder Street Beach, the number dropped from 24 percent to 20 percent -- the result of improved storm water treatment systems, old septic systems being hooked up to sewer lines and public education about picking up dog waste along beaches.
This kind of local support is critical in bringing an end to beach closures in New England. We’ll also need help from New England’s citizens. If you have a beach that has been closed due to unhealthy bacteria levels, don’t accept it. Urge your local officials to diagnose the problem and then fix it! The problem could be as simple as repairing a broken sewer pipe or cleaning catch basins. We also need to act responsibly as individuals. That means picking up pet wastes, properly maintaining our septic systems and disposing waste oil and other hazardous materials properly.
Only by working together can we achieve our goal of keeping all of New England's beaches healthy and safe.
Robert W. Varney is regional administrator
of EPA's New
England Office. For more information about water quality at Massachusetts
beaches, visit www.mass.gov/dph/beha/tox/reports/beach/beaches.htm 