Letter to Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs

On January 24, 2023 delegates from the King’s Beach community submitted a letter to the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs to push for support in improving the water quality at King’s Beach.

January 24, 2023

Secretary Rebecca Tepper

100 Cambridge St., 9th Floor

Boston, MA 02114           

Dear Secretary Tepper,

We, members of the King’s Beach Steering Committee, write to you today to ask for your support in our ongoing efforts to mitigate the water quality issues at King’s Beach, as well as your leadership to identify state and federal funding with our goals to implement technology geared to disinfect the water pollution.  

This historic beach, located on the Atlantic Ocean between the City of Lynn and the Town of Swampscott, was once one of the most active beaches in the Commonwealth.  Unfortunately, this resource consistently receives discharge of groundwater mixed with sewage and polluted surface runoff containing bacteria, often in concentrations 800 times greater than safe swimming levels. As a result, King’s Beach has been ranked as one of the worst two beaches for water quality in the Greater Boston area as reported by Save the Harbor/Save the Bay in their annual Metropolitan Beaches Water Quality Report Card. Most recently, King’s Beach received a 68% rating meaning it was unsafe for swimming more than one out of every five days in 2021.

King’s Beach is situated within the City of Lynn, an environmental justice community, and the Town of Swampscott. The ongoing water pollution affecting King's Beach significantly disadvantages these communities, as well as the North Shore in general. We believe that this issue requires our immediate action. As such, our goal is to prioritize the improvement of the water quality and other environmental conditions of King’s Beach in order to have both a cleaner and more accessible beach for all of our residents.

Earlier this year, the King's Beach Steering Committee assembled to evaluate six alternative approaches to alleviating the water quality issues1 at King's Beach proposed by Kleinfelder, an engineering consultant hired by the Town of Swampscott. The steering committee consists of people representing the following stakeholders: the City of Lynn Mayor's Office, the Lynn Water & Sewer Commission, the Swampscott Town Administrator, the Swampscott Department of Public Works, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, Save the Harbor/Save the Bay, and the Office of State Senator Brendan Crighton.

The steering committee met several times between the months of May and September, with smaller meetings held in October and December. The committee narrowed potential solutions to the following three options: Chemical Disinfection, Ultraviolet (UV) Light Disinfection, and an Outfall Extension at Stacey’s Brook. After further study, the committee ultimately determined that UV Light Disinfection would be selected for immediate implementation due to being the most cost-effective and time-efficient method of reducing the public health risks associated with constant bacterial discharges at King's Beach. Further, this alternative is supported by regulatory agencies and the construction of the UV Light Treatment Facility that would disinfect dry weather baseflow from Lynn and Swampscott would be feasible as the footprint would be limited and not require a permit from the EPA or other State Regulatory Agencies.  

While we work to progress the implementation of the UV Light Disinfection, both Lynn and Swampscott are committed to furthering source elimination efforts and continuing to undertake investigative efforts using Illicit Discharge Detection and Elimination (IDDE) to identify and resolve improper connections in the drainage systems. Even with successful source elimination efforts, the UV solution would be necessary to address polluted runoff and keep King’s Beach open and swimmable for longer periods of time.

Our next steps include identifying funding opportunities, and we will need to work with you, our state partners, [DP1] and our federal delegation to obtain the funding necessary to fulfill this project. The preliminary cost estimate for the UV disinfection option is $25,000,000. This includes the construction of a 1,550-square-foot building, the installation of a screening and hydrodynamic separator, and the purchase and installation of other equipment required for water quality treatment and improvement. 

We would appreciate the opportunity to meet with you to discuss further what actions we are undertaking and identify ways that we can all work together to provide our residents with a clean and safe beach to enjoy.

Sincerely,

Jared C. Nicholson, Mayor, City of Lynn 

Sean Fitzgerald, Town Administrator, Town of Swampscott

Brendan P. Crighton, State Senator, Third Essex District  

Daniel F. Cahill, State Representative, Tenth Essex District 

Jenny Armini, State Representative, Eighth Essex District 

Peter Capano, State Representative, Eleventh Essex District 

Donald Wong, State Representative, Ninth Essex District 

Dan O’Neill, Executive Director, Lynn Water & Sewer Commission

Chris Mancini, Executive Director, Save the Harbor/Save the Bay 

Constantino “Coco” Alinsug, City Councilor, Ward 3, City of Lynn 

Gino Cresta, Director of Public Works, Town of Swampscott