Pollution closed this RI beach a century ago. By 2026, it will be open to swimmers again.

EAST PROVIDENCE – In one of the clearest signs yet of the water quality improvements in Narragansett Bay, Crescent Park Beach will officially reopen to swimming more than a century after being closed.

Governor Dan McKee and other elected officials announced plans on Friday to license the beach along the Riverside shore as swimmable and reopen it by May 2026, after restrooms are built in the park and lifeguards are hired.

It would become the northernmost licensed beach in the Bay.

“We know that Rhode Island is full of natural treasures,” McKee said. “It’s our job to share them.”

Beach to reopen as Narragansett Bay becomes cleaner

The area around Crescent Park was a former summer colony, a onetime home to amusement parks and beach cottages that attracted visitors from across the state.

But pollution in the early part of the 20th century closed the beach to swimming and the only remnants of its glory days are the broken pilings visible at low tide that once held up bathhouses.

The decision to reopen the beach comes after steady improvements in water quality that have followed the completion of an enormous tunnel under Providence to collect overflows of sewage and stormwater that previously emptied untreated into the Bay.

The Narragansett Bay Commission, which operates the largest wastewater treatment system in Rhode Island, wrapped up the second phase of its three-part plan in 2014. Tests since then have found that the project cut bacteria counts in the Bay in half.

Improvements are expected to continue as the commission brings a second tunnel under Pawtucket that constitutes the third phase of the $1.7-billion project into operation. The 2.2-mile-long tunnel was completed in February.

Tighter regulations on discharges from wastewater treatment plants that were enacted two decades ago have also helped make Crescent Park more swimmable. With lower levels of nutrients in the water that fuel algae growth, the waters in the Bay are clearer than they’ve been in generations.

“We’ve made investments over many years and they’re paying off now,” said U.S. Sen. Jack Reed.

The latest investment is a $300,000 grant from the Southeast New England Program, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency initiative created by Reed that funds projects to restore coastal areas in the region.

Plans to reopen a beach in Riverside have been in the works for years

East Providence officials had been talking for more than a decade about reopening a beach in Riverside, but the focus had been on Sabin Point to the north. Although the Bay waters off the beach there are clean enough for swimming, there are still persistent problems from outfall pipes that discharge stormwater from the surrounding neighborhood.

A series of small green infrastructure projects that will use swales and plantings to collect runoff are set to be built around the neighborhood to help address the problem, said Wenley Ferguson, director of habitat restoration with Save The Bay, which is advising the city on the work. Once they’re implemented, Sabin Point could be licensed for swimming, too.

Save The Bay and The Nature Conservancy are also involved in work at Crescent Park to slow down erosion and stabilize parts of the shoreline that have been undercut by wind and waves.

John Torgan, Rhode Island director of The Nature Conservancy, said the reopening of the beach is a testament to the work by government agencies, scientists and environmental advocates to clean up Narragansett Bay.

“This is a milestone,” he said. “To have a certified beach here is a credit to all the people that made this happen.”

Testing shows water is swimmable

The state Department of Health and Save The Bay started testing the waters at Crescent Park Beach in 2017. After finding that they were safe for swimming, the department notified the city of the possibility of reopening the beach, said East Providence Mayor Bob DaSilva.

He said that residents of the city are the beneficiaries.

“For generations to come they will now be able to enjoy one of the most beautiful parts of our city and do so by the water,” he said.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Crescent Park Beach will reopen to swimmers in 2026 as waters get clean