NAHANT, MASS. (WHDH) - Beaches around the state are being forced to close because of bacteria, including Plum Island beaches in Newburyport, while at Nahant Beach, swimmers were allowed back in the ocean Wednesday afternoon.
Higher levels of bacterial contamination were detected Wednesday, and experts said recent wet weather across New England is causing what is known as combined sewage overflow.
“We’ve had a number of tests that came back with high bacteria levels,” said Newburyport Mayor Sean Reardon. “Those combined sewage overflows that continually get dumped in the Merrimack River upriver from us in communities like Lowell and Manchester, New Hampshire, Haverhill and Lawrence. Those are flowing downriver and along with the rain are really the root cause along with the rain for these high bacteria levels.”
Up and down the Massachusetts coastline, beaches are open, but the water is off limits. The status of all public beach’s in the state can be viewed on the state’s website.
“News to me,” said John Gardella, who was visiting Plum Island Beach. “We were just looking for a beach day, but finding the water is closed all the way up here. We’re just not used to it.”
Testing is underway at all impacted beaches, and some areas are hoping to get back to normal before the weekend, including in Newburyport.
“Best case scenario we can open beaches by the end of the day tomorrow,” Reardon said. “If not, we’re looking at Friday.”
Meanwhile, beachgoers looking to cool down in the ocean are packing it in early.
“We actually didn’t know. We came up for the weekend, and they just told us we can’t use the water,” said Kevin Halloran, who left the beach early.
(Copyright (c) 2025 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)