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Boston Harbor and Massachusetts Bay
MWRA Environmental Quality Department

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Boston Harbor Beaches

map of harbor beaches Link to Constitution Beach information Link to Winthrop Beach information Link to Pleasure Bay Beach Link to Carson Beach information Link to Malibu Beach information Link to Tenean Beach information Link to Wollaston Beach information Link to Short Beach informationLink to Boston Harbor Islands page
Click on beach names to get more information

Rain, onshore winds, and tides all affect beach water quality. Bacteria counts can increase with more rainfall, resulting in stormwater discharges and, occasionally, combined sewer overflows in larger rain storms. Swimming in Boston Harbor is not recommended for 24 hours after any heavy rain storm.

MORE INFORMATION

BEACH WATER QUALITY DATA

The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority and the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) test the water quality at all of the beaches along Boston Harbor weekly, and test five beaches daily in summer.

DCR posts red flags at harbor beaches when they find poor bacterial water quality.

Link to DCR's Beach Website

DCR's telephone hotline: 617-626-4972.

2010 Monitoring results

Beach
Average Enterococcus count (colonies/100ml)*
Short
4
Winthrop
5
Constitution
11
Pleasure Bay 
4
Carson - Bathhouse/I St
14
           - M Street 
8
           - City Point 
10
Malibu
11
Tenean
23
Wollaston
27
*Swimming standard is a 5-day running mean of 35 colonies/100ml or less. Read more about standards.

DAILY WATER QUALITY REPORTS