Storms, flooding heighten concerns about Maine’s stormwater pollution

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 11, 2024

Last year’s heavy rains flushed nearly 374 million gallons of raw storm and sewer water into Casco Bay, including from the devastating Dec. 18 storm that flooded western Maine communities at the upper edge of the watershed. It was the highest annual overflow into the 200-square-mile bay in five years – and that total does not even include the back-to-back January storms that inundated coastal communities with heavy rains, storm surge and damaging waves. Runoff and wastewater already contain high amounts of phosphorous, nitrogen, soot, pesticides and heat – not to mention sewage – that can harm water quality, aquatic life and the local economy. Heavy rains drive up the volume of the overflow, as well as the volume of pollutants.