NEWBURYPORT — Dug from the mudflats of Boston Harbor, clams travel here by the bushel to soak in a temperature-controlled saltwater bath treated with ultraviolet light. They like this spa-like environment so much, they depurate, or cleanse themselves of contaminants, making them fit for their ultimate dates with drawn butter and tartar sauce.
“Happy shellfish depurate,’’ said Diane Regan, a bacteriologist at the state’s Shellfish Purification Plant on Plum Island Point. “Happy as a clam — that’s how we like to keep them.’’
The clams and the dozens of workers who dig them may not be happy for much longer as the decades old purification plant — the only state-supported facility of its kind in the nation — faces a shutdown under Governor Deval Patrick’s proposed budget cuts. The state pays much of the more than $400,000 a year it costs to run the plant, which last year treated about 15,000 bushels of shellfish taken from moderately polluted beds, such as those at Logan International Airport or Dorchester’s Malibu Beach.
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