The report card that came out Sunday by Save the Harbor/Save the Bay certainly comes as good news for local beach goers. Constitution Beach was in the top 10 of the cleanest beaches in the metro Boston area. And for many residents, the only relief from the summer heat comes at cooling down at this beach.
A little more than two decades ago, relief from the heat at Constitution Beach could not be counted on as red flags that prohibited swimming were posted on an almost daily basis along the shoreline.
Those days are a distant memory.
Due to a massive cleanup in the last 20 years, Boston Harbor went from the most polluted harbor to one of the cleanest in the nation. Of course, the cost of stopping the degradation of our water was billions of dollars and the payment can still be seen every month in our water and sewer bills. However, even with all this money being spent, the reality remains of how fragile our environment is since a few of the area beaches like King’s Beach in the Lynn and Nahant area still have pollution issues that result in closing to bathers for days at a time.
Today, Constitution Beach continues to provide summer relief on almost uninterrupted basis. The beach has been completely redone with new playgrounds, bathhouse and pedestrian bridges that make this open space a true oasis from the summer heat. With the location of the beach, this is truly almost a just a Eastie gem.
On Thursday and possibly Friday, there will be record heat and humid.. This report card on the quality of the water at Constitution Beach comes at the right time for residents.