King's Beach Potentially Unsafe For Swimming 75% Of 2020: Report

SWAMPSCOTT, MA — A new report released on Monday called King's Beach on the shore of Swampscott and Lynn potentially the most polluted beach in the entire state.

The environmental advocacy group Environment Massachusetts said in the report that King's Beach tested as "potentially unsafe for swimming" 64 times in 85 testing days in 2020 — making it potentially unsafe for swimming 75 percent of the time.

The rate is more than twice as high as the next-worst beach — Tenean Beach in Dorchester — although the study notes that King's Beach "has more than one associated testing site, which may affect the number of potentially unsafe days."

The report said Tenean Beach was potentially unsafe 34 percent of 2020, with Wollaston Beach taking the next four spots at various testing locations.

Sandy Beach in Danvers came in at 10th on the list with eight potentially unsafe days out of 14 days it was tested (57 percent).

The full "Safe for Swimming?" report can be found here.

According to the report, stormwater runoff and sewage release is the primary cause of the fecal contanimation that causes high bacteria colonies in the water. This pollution can cause nausea, diarrhea, ear infections, and rashes.

"To curb this contamination and help make our beaches safe for swimming, policymakers should invest in improving our water infrastructure, especially by deploying nature-based solutions to prevent runoff pollution," the report said.

The report determined that in 2020, 264 beaches in Massachusetts were potentially unsafe for at least one day.

"In the last few decades, we've made significant progress in cleaning up our waterways — but pollution is still plaguing too many of the places where we swim," said Ben Hellerstein, state director for Environment Massachusetts Research & Policy Center. "Now is the time to fix our water infrastructure and stop the flow of pathogens to our beaches.

"Now that Massachusetts is shining a light on pollution in our waterways, let’s improve our water infrastructure to end these sewage discharges once and for all. With the right investments, a cleaner, healthier, pollution-free future is within reach."

The group Save The Harbor/Save The Bay released its own report card — with different metrics — that also ranked King's Beach among the worst in the state, although that report actually had Tenean Beach as the worst at 79 percent unswimmable to 70 percent for King's Beach.

"We are particularly concerned about the situation at King's Beach, where filthy, bacteria-laden discharges from both Lynn and Swampscott at Stacey Brook continue to threaten public health," Save The Harbor/Save The Bay Executive Director Chris Mancini told the State House News Service.

Did you find this article useful? Invite a friend to subscribe to Patch.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)