U.S. Water News Online
BOSTON -- Progress on the multi-billion-dollar Boston
Harbor Project, now more
than half completed, is beginning to reap dividends in an apparent
improvement
in water quality within the harbor. Once known as an "open sewer,"
and the "Dirtiest
Harbor in America," Boston Harbor is now healthier than it has been
in years.
Until recently, said Jack Dever, a lifeguard superintendent at
South Boston's famous L
Street Bathhouse, the harbor's water was always dark brown. "A woman
told me
the other day," noted Dever, "'I've been swimming here for 50 years
and this is the
first time I've seen bottom.'" Another L Street veteran, he said,
exclaimed that while
flying into Logan Airport recently he was able to see the bottom of
the harbor for the
first time in his life.
The greatest impact of the Boston Harbor Project, which involves
secondary sewage
treatment and construction of an ocean outfall, is that more people
are returning to
the beaches, said Elizabeth Grob of the Boston Harbor Association.
"The beaches
are getting reclaimed by people who can't escape to the Cape or the
North Shore,"
noted Grob.
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