From Snails to Whales: Christopher Charles Reardon: Harbor Tour

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Christopher Charles Reardon: Harbor Tour

Today's class featured an interactive tour of and discussion about the Boston Harbor. When we left the dock at Long Wharf for our harbor cruise, Bruce (our professor) pointed out to us that the neighborhoods of East Boston and South Boston are really not that far apart when viewed from the harbor: that essentially, the harbor brings everybody in Boston together. He talked passionately about the harbor as a great resource for all.

Having Fun Learning About Science

One by one, Bruce described the buildings we passed including the Institute of Contemporary Arts, the Moakley Courthouse, and finally Anthony's Pier 4. Bruce reminded us that Anthony's Pier 4 represents the way the waterfront used to look (dingy and weathered) whereas the bright and shiny buildings like the courthouse and the museum represent the new Boston: an area with exceptionally high real estate values. Bruce explained to us that people like the harbor because it is an excellent source of nutrient rich water, and that it is a protected area.

As we passed Logan Airport, the boat captain alerted us to a landing plane. Shortly thereafter, we watched the plane land and could even see the smoke billowing from its tires as they hit the runway. Bruce explained to us that Logan Airport used to consist of three individual islands the names of which he cannot remember.

Nixes Mate

I was fascinated at the idea that although Boston Harbor is a rich industrial area, nobody really makes anything there anymore. Despite that lack of current manufacturing activity, the harbor seems filled with goings-on. We saw pleasure boats, fishing boats, shuttle, and tourist boats throughout the tour. At whichever shore one looked, people were casting fishing rods. Bruce described many of the islands in the harbor in detail. He talked about Deer Island: location of the Deer Island Treatment Plant. Bruce told us an interesting fact about the politics of Deer Island by describing the patronage jobs available for people to paint the facility for $60,000 per year. Furthermore, we discussed the method by which the paint is chosen: by the citizens of Winthrop Massachusetts. Bruce explained how in its past, Deer Island was, quite literally, the place where Native Americans stored deer because there were no natural predators on that island. Next, we passed newly built Spectacle Island, Long Island (home of many of Boston's less socioeconomically advantaged citizens as evidenced by its sizeable number of homeless individuals and people with substance use disorders). We then went through the Narrows and past Nixes Mate beacon and into Quincy bay for our first brief stop to discharge and pick-up passengers: George's Island.

Outer Islands and Georges Island

At George's Island, the colors in the water changed. To me the water seemed cleaner and lighter in color. Bruce attributes this change in color to us being further away from the turbid river discharge from the City of Boston. As we observed the difference in the water I wondered if our observation had anything to do with the fact that this was the one time during the cruise where the sun was at its brightest. After a few minutes, we left George's Island and Bruce explained the outer islands in the distance and Boston Light. It is worthwhile to note that later on in the day (although it was difficult to really hear him over the wind and the boat motor) Bruce explained that the controversy over today's wind turbines is nothing new and relates to the time when Boston light was originally built. The citizens, at the time, complained that the proposed lighthouse (now considered a historical treasure) would destroy their views in the future. This is the same argument that people make against today’s Cape Wind project. As we approached Hull, I was pleased to see a wind turbine. We also learned that on Peddocks Island (where we saw a cute little chapel) the possibility exists that the island might eventually become three separate islands due to rising sea levels.

Fore River Shipyard View

As we approached Houghs Neck and learned about the City of Quincy’s failed affordable housing project, we could see the Fore River Bridge and the massive industrial area of the Quincy shipyard in front of us. As soon as we went under the bridge, we could see the Cruiser Salem: its guns rotting. It is impressive to think that such vessels used to be made so close to where we all live. Furthermore, it is interesting to consider that although the businesses that originally propelled Massachusetts Bay in business: fishing, and industry. have gone away, the area is just as vibrant as ever.

Beautiful Rotting Relic

On today's cruise, I learned that we are very lucky to live in such a wonderful place. The harbor is something that I take for granted. Even though I live close to it, I never pay it any mind. I learned that the harbor acts more like a bridge than a barrier: it connects communities such as Hull, Chelsea, and Quincy to downtown Boston by just a short boat ride. It seems so much nicer to take a 30-minute boat ride to downtown than to slog down the Southeast Expressway. Whenever I think about the Boston Harbor, I am reminded of the United States presidential debate in 1988 when George Bush Senior referred to then Governor Michael Dukakis’ answer to a debate question to be “about as clear as Boston Harbor." Judging from what I saw today, and from what Bruce has taught us so far in class, that is a political argument that no longer carries any weight.

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From Snails to Whales

Welcome to Snails to Whales, Bruce Berman's blog focused on both the little and the big things that make Boston Harbor such an interesting and extraordinary place to live, work and play.

With 50 miles of protected water, four sheltered bays, seven river systems, 34 islands and a nine-foot average tide, Boston Harbor is one of the most diverse urban ecosystems in America.

This blog focuses on the flora and fauna of Boston Harbor and Massachusetts Bay - on the beach, the shore, and the harbor islands, and in the cleaner waters of Boston Harbor and Mass Bay - including this ecosystems most important species - people.

During the summer, it is also a place for my Boston University Students and my colleagues at Save the Harbor / Save the Bay to share their work and experiences.

Where I am coming from...

Love that clean(er) water
Learning about the Boston Harbor Cleanup from the waterway’s eyes, ears, and mouthpiece

By Brian Fitzgerald, BU Bridge

On Georges Island, Bruce Berman talks with his students about the history of the Boston Harbor Cleanup,
which is largely complete. Photo by Vernon Doucette

Bruce Berman, aboard a ferry from Boston’s Long Wharf to Georges Island, poses a question to his students: “How clean is clean enough?”

He’s talking about the water below.

It’s a brilliant July day, with the smell of salt spray in the air. The sky is clear, and so is the ocean. But there was a time when Boston Harbor wasn’t so clean, when the stench of sewage assaulted the nostrils of anyone who went near it.

Berman is the communications director for Save the Harbor/Save the Bay, a public-interest environmental advocacy organization whose mission is to help restore and protect the harbor and Massachusetts Bay. He also teaches a Metropolitan College summer course called Politics, Public Relations, and Public Policy: The Boston Harbor Cleanup.

“The Boston Harbor Cleanup is an amazing success story, and I just love to share it with students,” says Berman, noting that the harbor’s “bad old days” weren’t that long ago. Those were the days when untreated human waste, syringes, condoms, and tampon applicators routinely washed ashore. The antiquated sewage treatment plants on Deer Island and Nut Island were so poorly designed and maintained that they flooded during even mild rainstorms, sending millions of gallons of untreated waste directly into the harbor.

Since then, bacteria counts in the water have decreased by more than two-thirds. Now the harbor teems with plants and animals, and people can legally dig for clams on Carson Beach in South Boston, which was unheard of in the 1980s.

“It was one of the filthiest harbors in America, and now it’s one of the cleanest,” says Berman. “What I’m trying to impress upon students is how this incredible comeback occurred, and how business, advocacy groups, environmentalists, and government can affect the outcome of large projects such as the Boston Harbor Cleanup through negotiation.”

Paradise regained

Berman points to the left as the boat cruises by the cleanup’s centerpiece: the gargantuan white egglike tanks of the Deer Island waste treatment plant, which in 1995 replaced the antiquated facility. The plant treats an average of 350 million gallons of sewage a day.

“And what comes out of the Deer Island treatment plant?” he asks. Berman, his booming baritone competing with the roar of planes taking off from Logan Airport, has a habit of putting students on the spot to see if they’re paying attention.

“The outfall pipe,” say several simultaneously. “Treated water,” chime in a few more.

“That’s right,” he says with a smile. “The plant separates the solid and liquid waste, and it pumps the treated water through the 9.5-mile outfall pipe, which empties into Massachusetts Bay. The resulting sludge is converted to high-grade fertilizer.”

Now Berman returns to his original question: “How clean is clean enough?” There’s no quick and clear answer to this one. “It’s a question that at the end of the day the federal courts had to decide.”

In 1985, a landmark federal court case required that the harbor’s beaches be made swimmable and fishable by 2000. Save the Harbor/Save the Bay was formed the next year to raise public awareness of the $4.5 billion Boston Harbor Cleanup. Sewer ratepayers in the 43 cities and towns financing the project cried foul over the prospect of astronomically rising bills, but because of the determination of environmental advocacy groups such as Berman’s, the cleanup was largely completed on schedule.

Berman says it isn’t finished, however. There are still frequent beach closures because the counts of Enterococcus bacteria exceed the federal and state standard for swimming. The culprit: filthy storm water and sewage, much of it from leaky pipes and illegal hookups emptying into storm sewers, and then into the harbor.

“So is the harbor clean enough,” the Springfield native asks his students, “when you can’t swim in it one out of five days in the summer?”

Work to be done

Berman and his class look out from Georges Island to Gallops Island (left) and the white tanks of the waste treatment plant on Deer Island (right). Photo by Vernon Doucette

This summer the state approved one of the last parts of the cleanup: the construction, by 2011, of a 2.1-mile tunnel near the Dorchester and South Boston shorelines that will hold sewage and storm water during bad weather. It then will be pumped to Deer Island for treatment.

Berman is ecstatic over this development, the result of “tireless negotiation and consensus-building,” he says. “After 2011, we’re looking at beach closings once every five years, when there is a major storm, instead of once every five days.”

But he is not about to let his guard down. To say that he is a man obsessed with the harbor cleanup would be an understatement. Berman is also Save the Harbor/Save the Bay’s “Baywatcher,” and he lives on his 40-foot trawler Verandah. Polluters beware: if you’re discharging oil or sewage into Boston Harbor, the Baywatcher just might be watching.

He is quick to point out that his zealotry is not just on behalf of the harbor’s flora and fauna. “The harbor is for everyone,” he says. “If you’re from a working class or poor family in Boston, and you can’t afford a Cape Cod getaway in the summer, a clean harbor is important. The same is true if you’re a tourist vacationing in Boston or you happen to live in a pricey waterfront condo.”

Accordingly, Berman, who was a political consultant and contributing editor to the Phoenix newspaper before joining Save the Harbor/Save the Bay nearly 10 years ago, also teaches his students about the harbor’s role in the city’s economy. He points out that in the early 1990s, just a few ferries cruised the harbor’s waters. Today, more than 100,000 people visit its islands each summer, discovering their ecological and historic treasures.

“The best way to protect the harbor cleanup,” Berman tells his students, “is to make sure that the public has access to the resources and can see a return on its investment.”

Trevor Kosmolsick (MET’05) has lived in Boston for seven years, but until taking Berman’s course, he had never been to the waterfront. “I’ve also wanted to go camping in the area, but I never knew that you could camp on a few of the islands,” he says. “Bruce Berman is not only a great professor, but the ultimate tour guide.”

He also backs up his words with actions. Sometimes he takes off his shirt and dives in the water to demonstrate to passing boaters that it’s safe to swim. To show people on ferries that fishing is safe, he’s been known to grab one of the bluefish or striped bass he’s caught and (very carefully) plant a wet kiss on it.

“What I want everyone to understand is that investment in the environment really does pay off,” says Berman. “We’re willing to pay for a clean Boston Harbor, so we should enjoy it.”