Swampscott Halts King's Beach UV Light Treatment Pilot Program 2 Weeks Early

SWAMPSCOTT, MA — The Swampscott and Lynn joint UV light treatment pilot program at King's Beach concluded two weeks early on Monday with cost and noise both contributing to the decision to wrap up operations.

Swampscott Town Administrator Gino Cresta said the decision to end the program was a mutual one between the town, Lynn Mayor Jared Nicholson and the Kleinfelder engineering and environmental services company in charge of operating the program.

The equipment for the program was installed in April and began on June 2.

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"We felt we got as much information as we possibly could from that (time period) with the exception of, during this entire time, we never got that one big storm we were hoping to get to see how effective it would be during a one-inch, two-inch rainstorm," Cresta told the Select Board on Tuesday night. "Because we were starting to override the cost of (what was allocated), we decided to stop two weeks earlier. Plus, the added fact of stopping the noise. So the neighbors were happy with that."

While those involved with the pilot program said the initial results appeared positive for effectiveness, neighbor noise requests from the generator running all day and night persisted throughout the summer. The Select Board also resisted a request to allocate $20,000 in funding beyond the $300,000 agreed to in a cost-sharing split with Lynn.

"We made it abundantly clear that we committed to $300,000 and that's was it," Cresta said. "(The decision to stop the program) wasn't contentious. (Nicholson) thought it wasn't a bad idea to stop it because he was getting more heat about the noise since the generator is in Lynn."

Cresta said the Jersey barriers were removed earlier this week and that the pumps and generators were expected to be removed in the coming days. He said the UV tank itself would likely remain a little longer while logistics are put in place to ship it back to Canada.

He said Kleinfelder will be putting together a report based on the results that will be presented to the public once completed in September or early October.

Former Swampscott Water and Sewer Advisory Commission Chair Liz Smith said last month that the initial results were "very encouraging" despite challenges from an abundance of seaweed and trash being sucked into the system and clogging it.

"You can see (from the data) when there's rain, the effectiveness goes down, and then it picks up very quickly," she told the Select Board in July. "So we're very encouraged by what we're seeing."

Even if the pilot program is deemed a success, there remain many questions about what that means as an effective and pragmatic solution to some of the pollution programs at one of the state's most contaminated beaches.

Whether the program can be scaled as a permanent program, the location of the treatment tank that became such a point of contention among abutters and, ultimately, the cost of implementing and operating a treatment facility will need to be considered once the data is analyzed and shared this fall.

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