IPSWICH, Mass. — As state and local officials continue to work on minimizing the impacts of the Merrimack River being contaminated with millions of gallons of untreated sewage, all beaches in Ipswich remained closed to swimming as of Tuesday.
At Crane Beach, a little more than dozen people could be seen on the beach Tuesday afternoon.
“It’s very empty today. This beach is usually a lot fuller, especially Fourth of July week,” Julie Wall said.
“This is the first time that I remember that they closed the swimming part,” Silvia Arata, a woman who has spent more than 30 summers in Ipswich, said.
On Monday, The Ipswich Public Health Director announced all beaches including Pavilion, Crane, Little Neck, Steep Hill, and Clark were closed for swimming until further notice.
“Yeah, it is kinda gross,” Wall said.
The swimming closures are due to an incident in Haverhill last weekend that led to an active discharge of untreated wastewater going into the Merrimack River.
“I was sorta surprised this particular beach was closed, like, I understood Plum Island where the Merrimack River empties out, but we’re a little further out from Plum,” Wall said about Crane Beach.
“It’s a long weekend so I feel bad for the people who plan to come for the weekend,” Arata said.
“We didn’t find out ‘til we got here, so a little bit surprised and bummed out but we’re still having a great beach day it’s still beautiful out,” Keely Lerman said.
Lerman said she drove an hour from Newton to get to Crane Beach and her young daughters were disappointed when they learned the water was off limits. But she said they still planned to make the most of the beautiful day.
“We’re just gonna spend time at the beach maybe go into town, do some shopping, have lunch,” Lerman said.
All of the beachgoers on Tuesday said they hoped the water will return to safe conditions as soon as possible.
“We can’t control when it happens or why it happens,” Lerman said.
“This is my happy place and I hope that soon its back to its pristine conditions,” Kristiana Kurt said.
The town of Ipswich said the beaches will reopen to swimming as soon as it is safe to do so.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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