The lost beaches

Part 3

by Jason Gay with Sarah McNaught

Elsewhere, however, the prognosis for Boston's beaches has been steadily improving. From Short Beach, in Winthrop, to Tenean, in Dorchester, the ocean is much cleaner, thanks to the $4 billion harbor clean-up project and its Deer Island wastewater treatment plant. Each summer, more people come back to the beaches to witness the transformation.

But the comeback of city beaches has been a gradual feat, more like a slow trickle than a flood tide. Though city residents are returning to the sand, many remain reluctant to plunge into the water, despite piles of evidence that the ocean is cleaner. On a summer day, it's not uncommon to walk down to the city beaches and find rows of people arranged on beach blankets, but only a few folks in the ocean.

That's because convincing people that it's safe to swim in Boston Harbor is a bit like reopening a restaurant closed by the board of health: no matter how many changes, improvements, and assurances you make, there are still people who will never return.

"It's a slow process," says Paul DiPietro, an environmental engineer for the MDC. "You're always going to have skeptics, because the harbor still has that cloud hanging over it."

The MDC's answer, DiPietro explains, is Back to the Beaches, a major public-awareness campaign to lure people back to the city's shoreline. Now in its third summer, the program rehabilitates beaches by trucking in new sand, repairing neglected bathhouses, and sponsoring events like swimming lessons and outdoor concerts. Boardwalks are decked in colorful BACK TO THE BEACHES banners, and you can't swing a towel without hitting a garbage barrel.

And there is water testing. The MDC currently tests more than a dozen Boston beaches at least twice a week for both fecal coliform and enteroccocus contaminants. Both tests determine the level of contaminants in the water; if the water meets EPA standards, blue flags are hung on the lifeguard stands and the beach is open. If the level rises above EPA standards, red flags are hung, and the beach is closed for the day. The red flags are not removed until further tests confirm the water is safe.

Over the past five years, the number of closings at Boston beaches has dropped by more than half. Today, most of the beaches are only closed after a heavy rainfall, when runoff from city streets enters drainage pipes. (Last week, when the city was hit with a couple days of wet weather, the MDC closed Tenean and Wollaston, as well as Winthrop Beach, in Winthrop; Constitution, in East Boston; and Carson, in Southie.)

For most of the summer, however, Boston beaches are open every day, contaminant counts are low, and swimming is perfectly safe. Neighborhood enthusiasm for the Back to the Beaches program is strong -- and why not? "It's always been disgusting," Iris Doyle, 63, a lifelong resident of South Boston, says one afternoon at Carson Beach. "I was really excited when I heard we were actually going to be able to use the beaches."

Still, as Doyle points out, the water-testing, beach flags, and closings occasionally confuse the public. Once a resident sees a red flag on the beach -- or hears the term fecal coliform -- the neighborhood rumor mill often grinds.

"My cousin says if there are a lot of gulls along the shore, that means there are a lot of dead fish and the water is no good," says Pat Doyle (no relation to Iris), 19, one morning at Malibu Beach. "See, look at all those gulls. I'm not going to chance it."

Doyle's cousin's theory is flat wrong, but he's not the only person suspicious of the water. Opinions about the safety of swimming in Boston Harbor can vary from blanket to blanket on the same beach.

Take this scene at Tenean Beach. Joanne O'Malley, 27, brings her four-year-old daughter, Tiffany, here because it's easier than trekking all the way to a beach in Hull or Marshfield. But even though it's supposed to be safe -- the blue flags are out -- she refuses to get wet.

"I do miss the water," O'Malley says. "I guess I could swim here, but the water hasn't been very safe. And I definitely wouldn't let Tiffany in the water."

Just a few yards away, however, Grayson Brown, a 41-year-old art teacher, strides right down to the shoreline, wanders into the ocean until it is waist high, and leaps. Unlike Joanne O'Malley, Brown has few doubts about the recovery of Boston Harbor. Bobbing to the surface in his white swimming cap, he shouts: "I love the water!"

Part 4

Jason Gay and Sarah McNaught can be reached at jgay[a]phx.com and smcnaught[a]phx.com, respectively.