These beaches have the best water quality in the Boston area, new study says

Boston Globe

18-06-2025

'You don't have to go all the way to the Cape or Newburyport,' said Chris Mancini, the nonprofit's executive director. 'We have amazing beaches right here, and many of them are exceptionally clean.'
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Though the region generally ranks highly in terms of water quality, there were a few beaches on the list with more dismal grades and
Four beaches fell below 80 percent
on the nonprofit's scorecard, meaning that last year, they 'failed' at least one out of every five tests for enterococci, an organism similar to E. coli: two on the North Shore (King's Beach in Lynn and Nahant Beach) and two in Dorchester (Tenean and Savin Hill).
Tenean and King's have historically ranked poorly in the nonprofit's annual list, which relies on daily and weekly testing conducted by the state Department of Conservation and Recreation.
When tests exceed the bacterial limits set for beaches
for two consecutive days, the water is considered unsafe for swimming and the beaches are required to close, according to
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Beaches with frequent closures are generally located in areas with aging or unreliable sewage systems, which are stressed by heavy rainfall causing storm water runoff. Those issues are exacerbated by the worsening storms and warmer water temperatures brought by climate change.
Nevertheless, most of the beaches are on the list 'reliably clean,' Mancini said.
'You see anything over 85 [percent], you're kind of going, 'this is good,'' Mancini said. 'Personally, I wouldn't worry too much about any beach that was over 85 percent.'
Pleasure Bay and City Point have both maintained perfect safety
rating ratings for the past six years, while other South Boston beaches have consistently scored over the 90 percent mark. Beaches in Revere and Winthrop have generally floated around the middle of the pack over the same period.
After King's Beach in Lynn — which, though still one of the worst performers, rose 11 points from a rotten 55 percent rating in 2023 — the most improved beach was Malibu Beach in Dorchester, which scored 7 points higher than 2023.
Puzzlingly, nearby Savin Hill Beach saw its water quality sharply decrease, according to the study.
'That was the big surprise,' Mancini said. 'We're trying to look into that one.'
He suggested that the drop may be simply a statistical anomaly; unlike Malibu, which is tested daily, Savin Hill's water is tested weekly. That means that three or four bad samples, perhaps caused by excessive rainfall runoff the night before, could have an outsize impact on the final rating.
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Mancini also noted both beaches are located in a basin that is relatively cut off from the rest of Dorchester Bay, which means less tidal flow than other beaches that face the open harbor.
Savin Hill residents have raised concerns over the basin's water quality in the past.
'We are trying to bring attention and resources to it because it really needs to be cleaned up,' Greg Bedrosian, head of the Dorchester Yacht Club, told the
Run-off from the Southeast Expressway may contribute to the contamination, as well as the lack of tidal flow under the Beades Bridge, which carries Morrissey Boulevard across Dorchester Bay.
'The problem is that silt has built up in it over the years, and so there's no way that water can flush through there anymore,' said Bill Walczak, president of the Columbia-Savin Hill Civic Association. '[It's] been that way for decades.'
Walczak said that calls to dredge up the silt under the bridge have fallen on deaf ears.
'All you have to do is look at the build up underneath it, and you can say, 'Wow, this area would be a lot clearer and cleaner and healthier if the state were just willing to clear out the silt,'' he said.
Still, Mancini said that generally speaking the water quality in the Boston area is just as safe as other major urban beaches, such as Coney Island in New York City, and Malibu Beach in Los Angeles. Some, like Imperial Beach near San Diego, have reported substantially worse bacterial levels in recent years.
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'The South Boston beaches have always gotten 100,' he said, adding that, as far as his metrics go, 'you can't get cleaner than 100.'
Short Beach in Revere is the only public beach of those surveyed to be closed as of Tuesday,
A beachgoer enjoys the sun at Tenean Beach in Dorchester. Tenean slipped two percentage points in this year's water quality report, indicating higher levels of bacteria than in years past.
David L. Ryan/Globe Staff
Camilo Fonseca can be reached at