Clean Beaches and Streams

The Clean Beaches and Streams Program’s goals are to reduce the bacterial levels in Salem Sound and Massachusetts Bay and to reduce public exposure to bacterial water pollution at area beaches. SSCW’s Clean Beaches and Streams Program monitors local stormwater outfall pipes and streams to determine if bacteria from leaking sewers or septic systems are getting into the Sound. Over the past three decades, SSCW has worked with local cities and towns to locate and fix many faulty sewer and septic systems resulting in a cleaner ocean. 

Every two weeks from June to August, trained volunteers take water samples from streams and outfall pipes that empty onto our coastal beaches. BioMarine analyzes all samples for Enterococcus. Like the more familiar E. coli, Enterococci are part of the normal intestinal flora of humans and animals but are also important pathogens responsible for serious infections. US EPA has determined that the Enterococcus group is a better indicator of potential public health risk of waterborne disease than fecal coliform bacteria in marine waters.  

The Tributaries and Water Quality Program uses the EPA Stormwater Toolbox to detect non-stormwater discharges in the Salem Sound tributaries by analyzing tributary and stormwater outfall samples for Enterococcus, ammonia, chlorine, and surfactant. In addition, the water quality at upstream tributary locations is tested for pH, dissolved oxygen, temperature, salinity, and conductivity (specific conductance) to gauge conditions for aquatic life in the freshwater tributaries of Salem Sound. This Toolbox data supplements SSCW’s Clean Beaches & Streams.  

The results of both programs are shared with the EPA, the watershed’s municipalities, and the public. (Click on the orange button below for results.) At the end of the monitoring season, Salem Sound Coastwatch meets with each municipality to review the results and determine pollution sources and steps for mitigation.