Special to the Times
In the 2024 Beach Season Water Quality Report Card by Save the Harbor/Save the Bay, the data has shown that South Boston’s beaches remain the cleanest urban beaches in the country. Pleasure Bay and City Point each maintained a perfect 100% safety rating, and Nantasket, M Street and Carson Beaches received high grades as usual.
Meanwhile, Wollaston Beach in Quincy continued to perform well, scoring 88% for the third year in a row after improving their stormwater and sewer systems over the past several years.
“We’re so proud of America’s First Public Beach being one of the region’s cleanest public beaches,” said MBC Commissioner Rep. Jessica Giannino. “I’m incredibly pleased to see the breadth of programming being planned this summer through the Better Beaches Program, like weekly morning yoga, the West Indies cultural celebration, and of course the International Sand Sculpting Competition.”
The 2024 Beach Season Water Quality Report Card uses data collected by the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) to assess water quality at public beaches from Nahant to Nantasket including Lynn, Nahant, Revere, Winthrop, East Boston, South Boston, Dorchester, Quincy, and Hull (see table below).
“Through decades of smart policies and investment in critical infrastructure, our beaches continue to remain safe, clean spaces for gathering and enjoyment,” said Senator Brendan Crighton, Co-Chair of the Metropolitan Beaches Commission. “With the acceleration of climate change and growing threats to this environmental progress, we must double down on that commitment to ensure our beaches remain resilient, equitable spaces for everyone.”
“As a Commission, we are incredibly grateful to DCR for its commitment to maintaining a rigorous testing system for our swimming beaches, and to Save the Harbor for continuing to provide this terrific resource,” said Rep. Adrian Madaro, Co-Chair of the Metropolitan Beaches Commission. “The Report Card has been a great tool to show the great overall quality here in Massachusetts and I hope it will give people the confidence to get out and enjoy our spectacular state beaches.”
Though most of the region’s beaches performed consistent with expectations, Save the Harbor did note a dramatic drop at Savin Hill in Dorchester, and a low rating for Nahant Beach, typically one of the region’s cleanest beaches.
“Nahant Beach and Savin Hill are historically clean beaches,” said Save the Harbor Executive Director Chris Mancini. “In an effort to understand what is happening at Nahant Beach, we are partnering with DCR, Save King’s Beach and Northeastern University to collect daily samples this summer. We hope the additional data will indicate either that there is a declining trend at this beach – possibly due to warming ocean temperatures or a new source of contamination – or that it’s simply coincidental variability due to the timing of the weekly test. The latter is the likely cause of the Savin Hill decline, as it is adjacent to Malibu Beach and typically performs as well as that location.”
“At DCR we’re committed to ensuring that all Massachusetts residents have access to clean water for recreation and that our beaches are welcoming spaces that provide a safe and fun environment to cool down for rising summer temperatures,” said DCR Commissioner Brian Arrigo. “DCR performs water quality testing throughout the summer at all our waterfronts, and we work with our partners at the Department of Public Health to inform the public of these results on our park alerts page and their water quality dashboard. Despite the rainfall so far this year, diligent water quality testing has shown that our beaches remain safe places for families and residents to recreate. We urge all beachgoers to wait 24 hours after heavy rainfall before hitting the water, to keep their animals away from waterfronts, and to monitor DCR’s park alerts webpage for any impacts to their favorite swimming locations.”
Aside from these exceptions, beachgoers can choose from 12 other reliably clean beaches, most of which are accessible by public transportation.
Currently the beaches use a posting and flagging system to alert the public to high bacteria levels. Unfortunately, the best technology available takes 24 hours to return results, meaning by the time the posting goes up, the information is already out of date. Save the Harbor recommends people get familiar with their beach’s individual characteristics by using Department of Public Health’s interactive beach water quality website.
Save the Harbor/Save the Bay thanks Dr. Judy Pederson, former Chair of their Beaches Science Advisory Committee, Bruce Berman, former Director of Strategy & Communications at Save the Harbor/Save the Bay, and Kelly Coughlin of Stony Brook Partners for their guidance in developing the methodology used in this report.
The organization commends Senate President Karen Spilka and House Speaker Ron Mariano, Metropolitan Beaches Commission Co-Chairs Senator Brendan Crighton of Lynn and Rep. Adrian Madaro of East Boston, and each of the legislative and community members of the Commission for their commitment to clean water and the region’s public beaches from Nahant to Nantasket.
They also thank the Healey/Driscoll Administration, the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, The Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, the Massachusetts Department of Conservation & Recreation, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.
This work is supported by JetBlue, the Richard M. Saltonstall Charitable Foundation, The Barr Foundation, and The Rose Family Foundation.
Save the Harbor/Save the Bay is the region’s leading voice for clean water and continued public investment in Boston Harbor, the region’s public beaches, and the Boston Harbor Islands. Since 1986, our mission has been to restore and protect Boston Harbor, Massachusetts Bay, and the marine environment, and share them with the public for everyone to enjoy.
Save the Harbor is committed to making Boston Harbor, the Islands, our beaches, and our programs inclusive, equitable, diverse, and accessible to everyone and anyone. We provide free programs, events and create opportunities for people to experience Boston Harbor and our spectacular urban natural resources first-hand, with an emphasis on breaking down barriers of race, language, income and ability.
The Metropolitan Beaches Commission (MBC) was created in 2006 by the Massachusetts Legislature to take an in-depth look at the Boston metropolitan region’s 15 public beaches in Nahant, Lynn, Revere, Winthrop, East Boston, South Boston, Dorchester, Quincy, and Hull which are managed by the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR).
The MBC is comprised of elected officials and community leaders from Boston and the metropolitan region’s waterfront neighborhoods and beachfront communities. Its work is facilitated by Save the Harbor/Save the Bay, which has served as lead consultant to the Commission since its inception.
The MBC is charged with making findings and recommendations to the Legislature and DCR on ways to improve the metropolitan region’s public beaches. Senator Brendan Crighton of Lynn and Representative Adrian Madaro of East Boston are the MBC’s Co-Chairs.
2024 Water Quality Report Card
| Beach | Six-year average safety rating (2019-2024) | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 |
| Pleasure Bay | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| City Point | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| Nantasket | 97% | 92% | 98% | 94% | 100% | 98% | 97% |
| M Street | 96% | 94% | 100% | 94% | 94% | 94% | 100% |
| Carson | 96% | 91% | 91% | 100% | 92% | 100% | 100% |
| Revere | 92% | 86% | 89% | 98% | 94% | 100% | 87% |
| Constitution | 92% | 86% | 88% | 97% | 91% | 98% | 90% |
| Short | 90% | 83% | 94% | 94% | 89% | 94% | 88% |
| Winthrop | 89% | 80% | 82% | 94% | 100% | 100% | 78% |
| Wollaston | 86% | 88% | 88% | 88% | 82% | 85% | 87% |
| Nahant | 84% | 78% | 80% | 81% | 77% | 96% | 93% |
| Malibu | 84% | 83% | 76% | 95% | 73% | 91% | 83% |
| Savin Hill | 80% | 68% | 80% | 94% | 70% | 89% | 79% |
| Tenean | 74% | 71% | 73% | 89% | 63% | 79% | 67% |
| King’s | 69% | 66% | 55% | 74% | 68% | 70% | 79% |
| All Beaches (avg.) | 88% | 84% | 85% | 93% | 86% | 93% | 89% |