A clean harbor advocacy group is giving strong grades to most Boston Harbor beaches in its second annual report card, but it's also highlighting some problems. <\/p>\n
More than half of the 15 beaches graded by Save the Harbor\/Save the Bay scored either an A or A-plus in the report released Sunday. That means they were open at least nine out of 10 days last year. <\/p>\n
Three beaches, two in Revere and one in Winthrop, didn't shut down once. <\/p>\n
But King's Beach, which straddles Swampscott and Lynn, and Tenean Beach in Boston filled out the bottom of the list, with Tenean Beach closed once every five days because of high fecal bacterial levels, which can cause illness. Still, those two beaches both improved from the previous year. <\/p>\n
Bruce Berman of Save the Harbor\/Save the Bay said last year's dry weather, which reduced the flow of dirty storm water runoff, as well as pipe repairs helped continue a turnaround for Boston Harbor beaches. <\/p>\n
The foul conditions at the beaches were once famous enough to be the focus of The Standells' Boston tribute song, \"Dirty Water.\" But years of extensive cleanup, costing billions, has produced years of cleaner beaches. <\/p>\n
\"Just 25 years ago, these beaches were awash with human waste,\" Berman said. \"We should be proud of what we've done and be prepared to finish the job.\" <\/p>\n
The 2012 report card, based on analysis of thousands of state water samples, said Winthrop Beach and Revere Beach and Short Beach in Revere were open every day of the beach season, between Memorial Day and Labor Day. <\/p>\n
State Rep. Kathi Reinstein of Revere said the perfect scores boost tourism and development and are important in a community where everyone calls their local beach \"my beach.\" <\/p>\n
\"There is incredible personal ownership of the beaches you grew up on,\" she said. \"And when it doesn't look good ... we hear about it.\" <\/p>\n
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The rest is here:<\/p>\n
Beach report card gives high marks to some local beaches<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A clean harbor advocacy group is giving strong grades to most Boston Harbor beaches in its second annual report card, but it's also highlighting some problems. More than half of the 15 beaches graded by Save the Harbor\/Save the Bay scored either an A or A-plus in the report released Sunday Continue reading