Water Protection
Lake and Stream Watershed Protection
The District has over 30 years experience in working with lake associations, private landowners, road associations, and municipalities to protect and restore our lakes and streams. Protection efforts include training and conducting watershed surveys, working with communities to develop watershed management plans, providing holistic and site-specific technical recommendations, and assisting with proposal writing and implementation of State and Federal grant funding.
Our streams need regular monitoring to help us check their health. We can easily monitor streams by surveying for what’s living there (focusing on macroinvertebrates like small bugs, shellfish, and other aquatic life) with kick nets. If you want to participate in this citizen science project, contact our office to reserve the sampling equipment!
Coastal Protection
The District has worked with many coastal communities to prevent, reduce, and restore coastal erosion issues through technical assistance, educational efforts, and grant projects with local, state and federal partners.
Think Blue Maine
Think Blue Maine is a statewide campaign to provide resources and information for residents, businesses, and municipalities alike to reduce stormwater pollution. The program supports the 38 regulated stormwater municipalities and nested entities and their community partners working together to meet Clean Water Act permit requirements and to make Maine a better place to live.
Stormwater | Interlocal Stormwater Working Group
ISWG (pronounced izzy-wig) is a coalition of 14 municipalities and 2 nested MS4s in the greater Portland and Saco areas (Biddeford, Cape Elizabeth, Cumberland, Falmouth, Freeport, Gorham, Old Orchard Beach, Portland, Saco, Scarborough, South Portland, Southern Maine Community College, University of Southern Maine, Westbrook, Windham, and Yarmouth) that work collaboratively to implement Clean Water Act requirements for stormwater. The District coordinates ISWG and provides regional support and implementation of many of the permit’s six required minimum control measures.
Long Creek Watershed Management District
The Long Creek Restoration Project began in 2007 as a collaborative, community-based initiative with representatives from the four Long Creek watershed municipalities (South Portland, Portland, Westbrook, and Scarborough), local businesses, non-profit organizations, and state agencies working together to solve water quality issues. The Long Creek Watershed Management District implements stormwater infrastructure and stream restoration projects to improve the health of Long Creek.
