Save the    Island

Following the conclusion of the 2026 Culvert and Flow Testing Study at Kings Beach that was conducted last summer, it is anticipated that state and city leadership will again characterize King's Beach as the 'dirtiest in the state' to press for a permanent ultraviolet (UV) treatment facility. 

This approach represents a costly, flawed 'end-of-pipe' solution yielding marginal environmental benefits.  By 2023 estimates, the construction of this facility would cost an initial capital investment of at least $23 million, alongside $170,000 annual operating and maintenance cost over a projected 20-year lifespan. This fails to account for the devastating aesthetic and practical impacts of locating a treatment plant directly in front of a beachfront community.

The persistent push for a permanent UV facility relies on flawed testing, misaligned priorities, and a fundamental misinterpretation of the pollution at Kings Beach. The data from the past two years clearly demonstrate that a $23 million end-of-pipe treatment plant will not mitigate the severe impacts of heavy rainfall, prevent combined sewer overflows, or satisfy the requirements of the 2021 federal consent decree.

Swampscott has rightly recognized that actual environmental restoration requires the demanding, methodical work of Illicit Discharge Detection and Elimination (IDDE). The City of Lynn and state leadership must follow this example and redirect their focus and funding toward these source-elimination efforts. Building a facility to mask pollution at the outfall is the expedient choice; but locating and repairing illicit discharges at their source is the only responsible one. It is time for officials to abandon this costly distraction and commit to the repair of the region's underlying infrastructure.