Massachusetts Water Quality

• To create a comprehensive list of harmful algal species inhabiting coastal marine waters
• To monitor and maintain an extended survey area along coastal waters throughout the year
• To isolate areas prone to harmful algal blooms (HABs) for further study by Marine Biotoxins researchers
• To identify general trends, such as time and area, where HABs are more likely to occur
• To promote increased awareness and education to the public, particularly students, on HABs
• To increase the public's awareness of research conducted by federal and state workers on HABs
• To create a working relationship with open communication between volunteers and researchers through PMN

Massachusetts has 525 public and semipublic marine beaches along 204 miles of sandy beach that line Atlantic waters. State water quality regulations require that all public and semipublic freshwater and marine bathing beaches in Massachusetts be monitored during the bathing season for bacterial contamination. Beaches must also be tested for oil, hazardous materials, and heavy metals if there is information indicating possible contamination. All of the coastal counties (Suffolk, Plymouth, Norfolk, Nantucket, Essex, Dukes, Bristol, and Barnstable) have beaches.

The monitoring program is administered by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH), which coordinates the efforts of a range of collaborators including local boards of health, the Barnstable County Department of Health and the Environment, and the Department of Conservation and Recreation. The administering agency for the beachwater monitoring program determines sampling practices, locations, standards, and notification protocols and practices throughout the state. Most of the sampling is conducted by the collaborating entities. Massachusetts has a program for water quality sampling at freshwater beaches in addition to coastal beaches; this summary includes only information about the coastal monitoring program.

The monitoring season starts as early as Memorial Day at some beaches and lasts through Labor Day for most beaches.

The number of bacterial exceedances at many Massachusetts beaches was higher during the 2008 season compared to 2007 in large part due to rainfall. In the summer of 2008, the Boston area experienced higher than normal rainfall. Rainfall was below average for all three months in Chatham, but not as low as it was in 2007.

Massachusetts is conducting several projects designed to reduce sources of beachwater pollution. These projects include several large-scale construction projects, such as a 17-foot diameter tunnel in South Boston for storage of combined-sewer overflow. The construction of the pipe is ongoing, but is scheduled to be operational prior to the 2010 beach season. Sewage-contaminated water that would previously have been released to Boston Harbor during large rain events will be diverted into the storage tunnel, where it will be held until it can be treated before being released. A new wastewater treatment plant for the coastal community of Chatham is in the proposal stage and a new wastewater treatment plant is under construction in Falmouth.

Beachwater quality monitoring data is analyzed on an annual basis to determine trends at certain beaches. These beaches may be targeted by the MDPH for sanitary surveys or increased monitoring. Data are also shared with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and other agencies for their own environmental assessment programs. Beachwater quality monitoring data is being used to assess the effectiveness of projects implemented as a result of the sanitary survey recommendations made during the Flagship Beach Project that was completed in 2007.

In August 2008, the MDPH released its sanitary surveys of five beaches within Barnstable County. Each had a history of enterococcus counts in excess of state health standards. The beaches chosen for the surveys were: Colonial Acres in Yarmouth, Rock Harbor in Orleans, Cooks Brook in Eastham, and Town Landing West of Coast Guard Station and Adkins Lane in Provincetown. The communities used the surveys to assist in identifying potential sources of pollution and make recommendations for reducing the number of closings at these highly visible and popular beaches. This was accomplished through additional monitoring, analysis of weather and tidal conditions, and review of environmental data. While each beach was characterized by its unique set of environmental factors, similar sources of pollution were found to increase the potential for high enterococcus counts. Identifying these transport mechanisms for bacteria at local beaches and recommending remedial actions allows towns to be better equipped to reduce the number of beach closing days they encounter in future seasons.

Massachusetts had 461 closing events lasting six consecutive weeks or less in 2008. Total closing days for 461 events lasting six consecutive weeks or less increased 94 percent to 1,102 days in 2008 from 567 days in 2007, 1,092 days in 2006, and 680 days in 2005. In addition, there were two extended events (117 days total) and two permanent events (188 days total) in 2008. Extended events are those in effect more than six but not more than 13 consecutive weeks; permanent events are in effect for more than 13 consecutive weeks. In 2007, there were three extended events (224 days total) and no permanent events.

• 1904: A sewer pipe running into Quincy Bay is completed. Raw sewage would continue to move through the pipes and into the water, unabated, for 48 years.
• May 1908: Wollaston Beach “opens” with the completion of Metropolitan Boulevard from Atlantic Street to Fenno Street.
• 1945: At the urging of Quincy residents, the Legislature OKs $4.5 million in spending for a sewage treatment plant at Nut Island.
• 1952: The Nut Island sewage treatment plant is completed, removing about half the solids from up to 300 million gallons of sewage sent each day.
• 1978 : Federal environmental officials block the Metropolitan District Commission’s plan to expand the Nut Island plant.
• 1982 : City solicitor William Golden spots human feces on Wollaston Beach, spurring him to action. Quincy sues the MDC and other state agencies for sewage discharges from Nut Island – leading to a court- ordered, multibillion dollar harbor cleanup and the creation of the Massachusetts Water Resources
• 1988: Presidential candidate George H.W. Bush comes to Massachusetts to criticize his opponent, Gov. Michael Dukakis, and “the filthiest harbor in America.”
• 1989: James Sheets is elected Quincy mayor, with a campaign heavy on MWRA bashing. Clam diggers are banned from the Wollaston area because of pollution.
• 1995: After three years of delays, the Nut Island sewage tunnel is completed.
• 1996: Overwhelmed by melting snow and heavy rain, wastewater treatment plants are spilling more than 20 million gallons per day of partially treated sewage into South Shore waterways, threatening beaches and shellfish beds.
• 1997: After spending $3.7 billion, the MWRA starts discharging clear wastewater into Boston Harbor with the opening of a new regional sewage- treatment plant on Deer Island.
• October 1998: The Nut Island sewage treatment plant is shut down, although it remains a sewage screening facility. Its 17 acres open a year later as a park.
• 2000: Wollaston clam beds are deemed clean enough for diggers to return.
• 2003: Quincy begins a $12 million project to repair crumbling sewer lines.
• 2005: After an electrical failure, 25 million gallons of untreated wastewater is dumped into Quincy Bay.
• Summer 2007: Wollaston Beach is deemed “swimmable” 90 percent of the time.

• Brewster - $20,142 to open up the closed shellfish areas, improve coastal habitats, and improve water quality at public bathing beaches through continued improvements to untreated stormwater discharges to the Stony Brook Watershed.
• Duxbury - $120,515 for stormwater treatment infrastructure at three locations to address pollutant discharges to Kingston Bay and “the Nook.”
• Oak Bluffs - $102,924 to protect shellfishing in Oak Bluffs Harbor by installing a rain garden/modified gravel wetland system to treat stormwater discharges.
• Provincetown - $116,419 to improve water quality and protect shellfish beds by installing stormwater treatment infrastructure within the West End Parking Lot to control direct stormwater discharges to Provincetown Harbor.

The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority will have to better treat sewage at the Deer Island Treatment Plant, according to a $610,000 legal settlement announced yesterday by the authority, the US Department of Justice, and the US Environmental Protection Agency. The federal government said the agency had the capacity to fully treat more than 22 billion gallons of sewage-contaminated waste water that was discharged into Massachusetts Bay since 2001 but failed to do so, a charge the MWRA disputes. An MWRA spokeswoman said last night that the authority agreed to the settlement to avoid a costly legal battle.

The agency in charge of providing water and sewer services to Boston's metropolitan communities must eliminate sewage and stormwater along South Boston's beaches by 2011, according to a judge's order. The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority must build a $372 million pump station and two-mile-long tunnel to get rid of the waste, according to the judge's order, issued July 7.

The tunnel and pump station will stop sewage overflow, which happens when Boston's water treatment facility can't handle both sewage and large amounts of storm water, The Boston Globe reported Monday. U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns ordered the agency to build the pump and tunnel after years of tension among residents, MWRA authorities and environmental advocates.

The project will make the South Boston beaches some of the cleanest in the country, MWRA executive director Frederick A. Laskey told the newspaper. But the 2.5 million MWRA customers in metropolitan Boston will likely face higher water and sewer rates to pay for the project, Laskey said.

4.5% of all marine samples collected from 2001 through 2008 exceeded the Enterococcus standard. The highest percentage of exceedances in any given year occurred in 2001 (6.2%), while the lowest occurred in 2002 (2.8%). Between 2003 and 2006, the percentages slightly rose each year from 4.2% in 2003 to 4.8% in 2006. In 2007, the percent exceedances dropped to 3.2%, which likely related to the reduced rainfall that year. In 2008, 5.7% of all the samples collected exceeded the bacterial standard, which is above the historical average. The amount of rainfall was elevated compared to previous years, and in the Boston area the amount of rain was considerably higher, which is likely an important reason for the increase in exceedances in 2008.

Stormwater runoff associated with wet weather has been shown to be a significant source of sewage contamination at bathing beaches (Cabelli et al, 1982; Cabelli, 1989; Pruss, 1998; Gerba, 2000; Schindler, 2001). Sources of runoff to surface waters include direct runoff from paved surfaces such as roads and boat ramps, runoff channeled through drainpipes, natural and man-made swales, and increased flow of freshwater streams. These sources can carry bacteria present over a wide area directly to a beach. Runoff is positively related to land-use density (houses per unit area) of the area drained (MDEP and MCZM, 1997). Therefore, exceedances are likely to be more numerous at beaches in urban areas (i.e. Boston Harbor) than beaches in rural areas (i.e. Nantucket). The majority of beaches that had multiple bacterial exceedances were in areas with high population densities. Many Massachusetts communities have addressed combined sewer overflows and stormwater runoff problems in response to USEPA’s stormwater regulations. Water quality improvements are expected to continue into the future with the assistance of better monitoring and reporting as well as new infrastructure projects.

Analysis of data from 2008 shows that the total number of exceedances statewide is significantly higher within 24 hours of a rain event. These rain data are based on information recorded on the field data form. For marine beaches, all 433 exceedances had corresponding rain event information, while for freshwater beaches rain event data were recorded for 221 of the 325 bacterial exceedances in 2008. Eighty percent of marine beach exceedances and nearly 47% of freshwater exceedances occurred within 24 hours of a rain event. This figure shows the exponential drop-off in the number of exceedances as the time from rainfall increases.

The bather load at a particular beach can affect water quality as well because humans are also sources of fecal pollution. The greater the bather density at a beach, the greater the likelihood that human sources are contributing to higher Enterococci levels. However, as in previous years, more than three quarters of the marine beach samples (89%) and freshwater beach samples (81%) that reported bather density indicated low bather density (0-10 bathers on the beach) during sampling. This can be attributed largely to samples being taken during off-peak hours for swimming. Samples are primarily collected before 12:00 PM so that laboratories can begin the analysis before the close of business and before the six hour holding time expires. Thus, it is difficult to comprehensively evaluate the effect of bather density on beach water quality.

Another potential influence on bacteria levels in bathing waters may be spring tides. These strong tides, which take place year-round, occur when the earth, moon, and sun are in line and the gravitational forces of both the moon and sun contribute to the larger than normal tides. Spring tides occur during full and new moons, and recent attention has been focused on them with respect to water quality and beaches. In a study released by the Southern California Coastal Water Research Project, a government agency that focuses on marine environmental research, researchers found beaches twice as likely to be out of compliance with water quality standards during spring tides. This study concluded bacteria levels may be higher during spring-ebb tides (receding tides) compared to all other tidal conditions and that Enterococci densities were found at beaches during tidal events with no obvious point source. The study suggested that tidally forced sources of Enterococci may be occurring at beaches (Boehm, A. B. and S.B. Weisberg, 2005). Potential sources for these Enterococci could include beach sands and sediments, decaying plant material, and polluted groundwater. All of these sources are known to harbor fecal indicator bacteria and have the potential to become ‘activated’ with the mass and momentum of a spring tide (i.e., disturbing bacteria that would have otherwise lain dormant).

The decaying plant material, or wrack line, at a beach may also be an incubator for bacteria, potentially increasing bacterial counts even outside spring tides. In addition, it has been suggested that wrack is often the subject of scavenging by wildlife and pets, which may defecate in it, further increasing its contribution to bacterial contamination (Heufelder 1988). Wrack also keeps the soil surfaces it covers in a dark, wet environment, which is conducive to bacterial growth. Researchers have found that survival of fecal coliform and Enterococcus bacteria was far greater in salt water when organic debris (i.e., wrack) were present (Martin and Gruber 2005). Furthermore, they concluded that tidal flushing of wrack during high tide could easily transport elevated bacterial densities into the marine environment, thus potentially degrading the surrounding waters (Martin and Gruber 2005).

Other potential sources of bacteria, which are difficult to directly measure through routine beach water sampling, have the ability to influence overall water quality. At marine beaches, illicit discharges of human waste from boats may cause significant degradation of water quality where there is significant boating activity. It is generally believed that the number of illicit discharges from boats is proportional to the difficulty posed in the disposal of the wastewater; therefore there has been significant effort by many coastal communities to increase the number of locations where boat waste can safely be discharged. USEPA has also worked with state and local officials to designate all marine waters within three miles of the Massachusetts coast as a no-discharge zone and has set up a series of fines for persons who do discharge illegally.

Additionally, sediments may act as a sink for fecal indicators at both fresh and marine beaches. These sediments may be disturbed by tides, human activities, or stormwater runoff and potentially increase bacterial contamination.

Reasons for closings: For events lasting six consecutive weeks or less, 85% (942) of closing/advisory days in 2008 were due to monitoring that revealed elevated bacteria levels, and 15% (160) were preemptive (i.e. without waiting for monitoring results) due to heavy rainfall.

The reported sources of beachwater contamination for 2008 are as follows: 85% (942) of closing/advisory days were from unknown sources of contamination, and 15% (160) were from stormwater.