Schools to Careers Partnership learns about Boston Harbor

This hot and sunny afternoon Bruce, Michelle, Will and I went over to the Bank of America Pavilion to meet a group from the Schools to Careers Partnership and listen to Save the Harbor's spokesman Bruce Berman talk about Boston Harbor and Save the Harbor/Save the Bay.

The group of rising high school seniors had visited Deer Island earlier in the morning and were eager to learn more about Boston Harbor. For one hour Bruce walked the group through how the harbor has changed through the last 20 years. He kept the group of young people interested with comical anecdotes, including one about a beach runner getting what he thought was tar on his shoes, but which turned out to be human waste. The runner (Bill Golden, City Solicitor  Quincy)then sued everybody and their mother for his "miss step" on Wollaston beach, which got the ball rolling to turn some of the dirtiest beaches in the country into the cleanest.

Bruce focused his talk on potential opportunities for students interested in science and engineering in the non-profit world.

After Bruce's talk the student got their questions answered including, "How much money do you make?". This question was diplomatically answered with a range of salaries but Bruce also pointed out that besides making money, "It's best when you love what you do." Despite the heat that left us all wanting a tall glass of ice water it was a great hour break from the office to share information with a fun and engaged group.

Blair

Save the Harbor / Save the Bay Releases Beaches Report Card

 

Save the Harbor / Save the Bay issued its first annual "Water Quality Report Card" on the region's public beaches from Nahant to Nantasket on Wednesday morning at 9:00 - 1-:00 the Exchange Conference Center on Boston's Fish Pier.

To assess and compare the water quality conditions on each beach, the group looked at the percentage of tests exceeding the state swimming standard of 104 cfu/100ml of Enterococcus.

Overall Beach Safety from “Best to Worst”

Nantasket	100%
South Boston @ M Street	98.60%
South Boston @ City Point	98.60%
South Boston @ Carson (Bathhouse and I Street)	97.30%
South Boston @ Pleasure Bay	94.50%
Wollaston @ Rice Road	93.20%
Constitution Beach - East Boston	93.20%
Malibu Beach - Dorchester	91.70%
Savin Hill Beach - Dorchester	91.70%
Nahant Beach	88.50%
Wollaston @ Milton Road	87.70%
Wollaston @ Channing Street	87.70%
Revere Beach	87.50%
Wollaston@ Sachem Street	86.30%
Winthrop Beach	84.60%
Short Beach  - Revere	83.30%
Tenean Beach - Dorchester	79.50%
King’s Beach - Lynn	73.20%

"Some of the region's beaches, including Nantasket Beach in Hull and the South Boston beaches, are safe for swimming nearly every day and rank among the cleanest urban beaches in the nation" said Save the Harbor / Save the Bay's Bruce Berman.

"Many others are doing quite well.  However there continue to be pollution problems at some of the region's public beaches, including most of Wollaston Beach in Quincy, at Tenean Beach in Dorchester and at King's Beach in Lynn.  We need to address them all if we are to achieve the late Judge A. David Mazzone's often stated goal of beaches that are safe for swimming "Damn near every day!"

Last year Nantasket Beach in Hull was the "Gold Standard" for the metropolitan region's beaches, earning a 100% rating for beach safety. The South Boston Beaches came in a close second, averaging better than 98%. Tenean Beach in Dorchester and Kings Beach in Lynn each failed more than 20% of the tests performed in 2012.

The results were made public at the initial meeting of Save the Harbor's Beaches Science Advisory Committee, convened to conduct a systematic review of water quality and beach flagging accuracy on the region's public beaches from Nahant to Nantasket.

"Our goal is to help turn the data into information that people can use to make decisions," said Dr. James Shine of the Department of Environmental Health at Harvard University, who co-chairs the science committee along with Dr. Judith Pederson, a coastal resource specialist at the MIT Sea Grant College Program. "As scientists, we are here to focus on the facts," said Dr. Pederson. "It is Save the Harbor's job as an advocacy organization to build a consensus on how to address the situation going forward."

Berman, who teaches marine science and management at Boston University, agrees. "The scientists and technical advisors play a critical role in increasing our understanding of the causes of these problems, and can help us evaluate proposed solutions. But at the end of the day, this isn't just about the science, it is about our shared values and the love we have for these beaches."

By all accounts, the Deer Island sewage treatment plant and the Mass Bay outfall pipe have dramatically improved the health of Boston Harbor and Massachusetts Bay since they were completed in 2001. However, Berman noted that the first phases of the Boston Harbor Project were not intended to solve all of the problems that cause pollution on our region's public beaches. "The remaining problems need to be addressed on a "beach by beach" and "pipe by pipe" basis, as we did in South Boston with remarkable success" said Berman, "and that's exactly what we propose to do."

Save the Harbor / Save the Bay also asked the science committee for advice on ways to better protect the public’s health and access to clean water by improving the current beach flagging system. 

"Posting yesterdays test results on the beach is simply not a sensible way to let the pubic know if it is safe to swim today" said Berman. "Most of our beaches deserve a fairly high grade, but I would flunk the red flags."

Here is a link to Save the Harbor / Save the Bay's 2012 Beach Water Quality Report Card
for the Boston Harbor Region's public beaches from Nahant to Nantasket.

Here is the data on which the report card was based, which was presented at
Save the Harbor/Save the Bay's Beaches Science Advisory Committee meeting
at the Exchange Conference Center on Boston's Fish Pier on Wednesday, May 30 2012.

MWRA Presentation (Background and Water Quality Testing Methods)
EPA Presentation (Past and Future Water Quality Criteria)
EPA Presentation (Rapid Testing Methods)
Save the Harbor / Save the Bay's Report (Beach Safety ad Flagging Accuracy)

Here is an Executive Summary of the results.
Here is the Data on which our report is based.
You can find a Press Release about the report here.

Here are two useful papers - on Antecedent Rain and
an analysis of posting based on the Previous Day's Results.

For insight into our values, view Save the Harbor's television commercial about beach flagging,
view our short video "Water Power" or visit our webpage at www.savetheharbor.org

If you have any questions, please contact Bruce Berman at
bruce@bostonharbor.com or by phone at 617-293-6243

Seals of Approval for our Marine Mammal Safari!

After a fairly mild winter (and a freezing but fun Cupid Splash in March!) it's finally Spring on the Harbor -- and we couldn't be more excited for the season ahead! And what better way to kick it off our spring and summer programs than free boat trips for kids and families out on Boston Harbor?

This past Saturday, April 28th, Save the Harbor / Save the Bay took boatloads of kids, families, and community groups out on our annual Marine Mammal Safari to search for the harbor seals and porpoises that make Boston Harbor their home every Spring. We took 2 three-hour trips out past Deer Island, Spectacle Island, and Georges Island, around the Brewsters, and past Boston light, learning about each location as we went. We had truly gorgeous weather all day, and there were exciting seal sightings on both trips!

Out of several different seal sightings that morning, I'd say that the first boat's highlight of the day was a pair of harbor seals hauled out on the rocks off of Georges Island, lounging in the beautiful weather. We were having a nice, relaxing morning on deck, warmed by the sun, and the seals were doing the same! The second boat of the day saw some seals off of Gallops Island as they rounded Georges Island. The four porpoises that reportedly have been spending the past few weeks in the Harbor seemed to have eluded us. Keep an eye out for them when you're out on the water in the next few weeks, because they're around here somewhere-- and the kids had a great time searching for them anyway! Porpoises aside, with so many seal sightings, everyone on board both trips got to see some marine mammals, making this another successful year for the Marine Mammal Safaris, which we have been running since 1998.

Families and groups joined us from all over the city, including Dorchester, Hyde Park, Mattapan, East Boston and South Boston-- and we even had the Urban Scholars program at UMass and a group of students and professors from Boston University join us as well! We had families from outside Boston hop aboard the boat, too-- from Chelsea, Malden, Gardner, Stoughton, Lynn, Melrose, and more. And one family of five joined us from France, getting to see Boston Harbor and it's environment as most tourists don't have the chance to do. We truly had people aboard from all over the city, region, and world!

Many thanks to Massachusetts Bay Lines for their continued support of the Marine Mammal Safari trips, as well as our sponsors at Gillette, State Street Foundation, John Hancock, JetBlue, and National Grid for making these trips possible. We're so proud to be able to bring so many kids and families closer to Boston Harbor and its marine life each spring, and I personally love to see so many kids as excited about spending a day out on the water when they board the boat as when they depart. It really got me excited for our All Access Boston Harbor program this summer, when we'll be hosting similar trips for youth groups to Spectacle Island and Georges Island for four days a week in July and August! Contact me at palermino@savetheharbor.org if your group wants to find out more!

Thanks to everyone who joined us. We'll see you all on the Harbor this spring and summer!

All the best,

Michelle Palermino