How is King's Beach still polluted in 2024?

Over 100 years ago, the Town of Swampscott and City of Lynn developed on top of Stacey's Brook, driving it underground. One article in 1912 noted how "disagreeable" the smell from the brook was, so they simply covered up the problem and built on top of it. Today, this makes finding the sources of pollution much more complicated. 

There is no ONE source of pollution on King's Beach. Unfortunately, this issue is complex and the pollution has compounded for several reasons, including:

• STACEY'S BROOK: having a natural brook underneath our sewer system, which carries all of our leached sewer water directly through the large "culverts" onto King's Beach 

• IGNORING PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE: both Lynn and Swampscott ignored an "invisible" infrastructure for almost 100 years, which is cracked and broken and will cost tens of millions of dollars to fix (or more) since we properly plan and do maintenance over time

• BROKEN PRIVATE INFRASTRUCTURE: both privately-owned "sewer laterals" and publicly-owned "sewer mains" remain broken, both which leach into the groundwater. 

• CUTTING ACROSS MUNICIPALITIES: Stacey's Brook runs through both Lynn and Swampscott, making it unclear "who" is causing pollution and where it's occurring. This has slowed down progress as both towns pointed the finger at each other for decades.

Ultimately, regardless of how complicated it may seem, how expensive it might cost, or how our ancestors left us in a messy situation today, it's our responsibilty to pick up the pieces and fix the mistakes of the past for ourselves and for future generations.

Who's fault is it?  

For decades, Swampscott tried to blame Lynn and the combined sewer overflows, while Lynn pointed to the continuous contamination of Swampscott's sewer pipes, and both municipalities will shake their fists at the state and federal governments for not solving the problem.  

A 2017 report by Save the Harbor, Save the Bay demonstrated that both Lynn and Swampscott were contributing to the pollution on King's Beach. Although we often get questions about "who's at fault?", the local and state governments are accepting responsibility are working together in a coordinated way to fix this issue.  

It's tough to accept responsibility for a century-old issue, but it's a responsibility we can now all embrace for the sake of ourselves and future generations.

According to the latest Kleinfelder report Phase 2 IDDE design and planning is underway.  Phases 2A - 2C, which involve the actual construction work will extend from 2025 - 2028.  So far $1.8M in ARPA funds and $3.5M in borrowed funds have been approved for this work.  However, Phases 2A - 2C are estimated to cost $3.5M each so the total budget has not been assigned to this project yet.  

Several Stakeholders have been vocal about his desire to have a "complementary" or "parallel" solution which would help open King's Beach up faster while we work on illicit detection and infiltration ("IDDE"). This  may include UV Water Filtration, a sewer pipe extension out towards Egg Rock, or direct peracetic acid water treatment additions. 

These proposals will not fix the underlying issue, and should never be thought of as alternatives to fixing the pipes.

The main job the King's Beach Steering Committee is tasked with is to research and identify this parallel solution. When that is decided upon (hopefully by March 31st, 2025), the Federal and State government will be engaged to assist with some funding and permitting of that treatment solution.