Like so many other days this July, the 20th was hot, hazy, and humid. The uncomfortable conditions drove my friend Tim and his family, along with many others, to the seaport’s downtown Pavilion Beach for a cool and refreshing dip.
Upon arriving, a sign informed them that the public recreational beach was closed due to pollution. How disappointing. Some people obeyed the warning while others ignored it, entering the water at their own risk.
Weekly testing of the Pavilion waters showed high levels of the E. coli bacteria, a pathogen associated with human and animal waste. Pavilion was closed for almost a week.
Swimming in such contamination can cause diarrhea and vomiting, along with eye and ear infections, respiratory illnesses, and skin rashes. With COVID-19 mostly in the rear-view mirror, who would want to risk these maladies?
How did it get this way?
Each time the city experiences a major rain event, streets and sidewalks get flushed of anything and everything that accumulates on them. This toxic soup includes animal feces, dirt and grime, trash, dripped oil and gas, and much, much more. The river of vile then heads to the nearest waterbody, in this case the waters lapping the shore of Pavilion.
In mid-July, Pavilion Beach was not alone among closed Cape Ann swimming areas. Manchester-by-the-Sea’s Tuck’s Point and Rockport’s Long Beach joined the crowd of shut-downs.
Nearby Newburyport banned swimming on all its Plum Island beaches due to unsafe health conditions.
In fact, swimming was prohibited at almost 80 beaches around the Commonwealth during this the height of the summer season.
Last summer, according to a recent analysis by WBUR, there were over 1,000 closures keeping swimmers out of the water at 500 Bay State saltwater swimming areas.
And it’s only going to get worse as a warmer world is getting wetter and wetter due to accelerated climate change. The climate crisis is producing weather on steroids with bigger and more frequent storms fueled by hotter and increased moisture in the atmosphere. So, when it rains, it pours. And when that happens, the heavy precipitation overflows everything designed to manage it as the liquid mess heads for the nearest waterbody. And as global temperatures continue to rise, an uptick in severe weather events is expected.
As an old coastal city, Gloucester is typical in employing the traditional approach to drainage design. That is to collect and remove runoff from the streets as quickly as possible using curbs, gutters, catch basins, and storm sewers. This method of controlling stormwater often results in untreated discharge leading directly to the nearest waterbody.
While this approach effectively removes runoff from the streets, it does nothing to address the quality of water at nearby beaches.
As the seaport celebrates its 400+ anniversary, “Closed due to pollution” is not a good look. So, what should Gloucester and other communities in similar situations do?
First, we must totally rethink how stormwater is managed in residential, commercial, and public areas. With that in mind, the following are a few options, some, or all of which may help mitigate the adverse conditions of non-point source pollution.
Perhaps one of the simplest solutions is to remove sediments and other bad stuff from streets through more frequent street sweeping and vacuuming. This should be followed by increased basin cleaning.Municipalities can also establish more green spaces using the natural sponge-like qualities of vegetation to both absorb and filter pollutants before they find their way to the water.Cities and towns can construct shallow open channels lined with swales of vegetation. These infiltration or percolation trenches slow runoff while removing pollutants.Coastal communities can replace all asphalt running down to the water and install concrete tiles with interlocked spaces of grass or gravel to allow for the absorption of flood waters before they enter surface waters.Local governments can build strategically placed flood catchment areas that will retain and then slowly release stormwater once heavy rains subside.Finally, public works departments can identify and disconnect any piping from impervious surfaces leading to receiving waters while re-directing drainage to vegetated areas.
City taxpayers and property owners have together spent millions of dollars to clean the harbor, improve the quality of wetlands and waterways, sewer parts of the city, and upgrade private on-site septic systems. We are also in the midst of a $100 million upgrade and storm-proofing of the Gloucester wastewater treatment facility.
The next step to keeping clean, and in some instances improving the quality of our coastal waters, is to stop the runoff.
Jack Clarke is a Gloucester resident and frequent contributor to the Gloucester Daily Times.