pp/y Clean Water State Revolving Fund
Green Project Reserve
Clean Water
Case Study: Maine CWSRF awards ARRA funds to implement a
collaborative watershed restoration plan to improve Casco Bay
Casco Bay was designated an "estuary of national significance" by the U.S. EPA in 1990 due to its pristine
nature and the increasing stress on its water quality and habitats from human activities. The Casco Bay
watershed encompasses all or part of 42 cities and towns and nearly 20 percent of the population of
Maine including Long Creek. The estuary contributes to the local economy and quality of life in
surrounding communities by offering recreational opportunities, scenic beauty, waterfront jobs,
tourism, and commercial fishing, among other benefits. The Long Creek Restoration Project, which
received $2.1 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) loan funding from Maine's
Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF), will help implement the recommendations of the Long
Creek Watershed Management Plan (WMP). The project includes the installation of a variety of green
stormwater components such as vegetative bioswales and soil media filters to reduce pollutant loadings
in Casco Bay. The CWSRF is jointly administered by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection
and the Maine Municipal Bond Bank. This loan includes almost $600,000 in principal forgiveness,
substantially reducing the cost to the communities involved.
The National Estuary Program (NEP) was established by Section 320 of the Clean Water Act
Amendments of 1987; the program is intended to protect estuaries of national significance that are
threatened by pollution, development, and/or overuse. Many of the 28 estuaries that were designated
as NEPs in the Clean Water Act Amendments, including Casco Bay, have similar water quality issues,
including excess nutrients, toxic chemicals, habitat loss and degradation, pathogens, declines in fish and
wildlife populations, and alteration of natural flows. The Clean Water Act Amendments required each of
the NEPs to develop and implement a
Comprehensive Conservation and
Management Plan (CCMP), which is a long-
term plan that includes targeted actions to
address water quality and other natural
resource challenges in the estuarine
watershed.
The Clean Water State Revolving Fund,
which was also authorized by the 1987
Clean Water Act Amendments, establishes
the development and implementation of a
CCMP as an eligible use of funding. As such,
projects or activities that are listed in an
approved CCMP and are part of an NEP
study area are eligible for CWSRF funding,
regardless of whether they are implemented
on public or private land. Utilizing Section
320 authority provides CWSRF programs with the opportunity to fund privately-owned projects that
require NPDES permits, if they are located in NEP study areas. Because this project is located within the
watershed of an NEP and implements a priority activity described in Casco Bay's CCMP, Maine was able
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to utilize CWSRF funding to implement regulated stormwater management activities on both privately-
and publicly-owned land.
The Casco Bay Plan (Available at: http://www.cascobay.usm.maine.edu/pdfs/CB%20PlanUpdate06.pdf),
adopted in 1996, outlines five main goals, including minimizing pollutant loadings in the watershed from
stormwater and combined sewer overflows. In 2006, the Plan was updated by adding a stormwater
action plan to promote subwatershed management, planning, implementation, and evaluation. As part
of this effort, the city of South Portland, located in Cumberland County, obtained a grant from the
Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) in 2007 to complete a Watershed Management
Plan for Long Creek. The WMP was completed in July 2009 after a complex process that required
collaboration among numerous stakeholders from the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. The Long
Creek WMP (Available at: http://www.restorelongcreek.org/plan/index.htm) identified water quality
problems in the watershed as primarily resulting from impervious cover that contributes to nonpoint
source pollution and rapid increases in peak stream flows from stormwater runoff. The WMP also
identified specific recommendations to reduce and mitigate stormwater impacts, such as stormwater
management retrofits, non-structural stormwater best management practices, and riparian re-
vegetation.
Long Creek is a stream that drains to a watershed area just under 3.5 square miles, and eventually flows
into Casco Bay. It was once a pristine creek filled with native brook trout that was popular with fishers
and swimmers. Today, Long Creek is badly contaminated and does not meet state water quality
standards. Water quality problems stem largely from significant urbanization and commercial
development in recent years. Rapid development converted areas that were once forested into
impervious surfaces, with 60 percent impervious cover in some areas. These areas transport high
volumes of polluted stormwater with oil, grease, and silt into streams.
The Long Creek Restoration Project, which is being implemented by the Cumberland County Soil and
Water Conservation District, seeks to implement the recommendations of the Long Creek WMP through
a collaborative process. (For more information about the Long Creek Restoration Plan, see:
http://www.restorelongcreek.org/projects/index.htm) The $2.1 million ARRA CWSRF loan implements a
range of stormwater management components, including vegetative bioswales, tree boxes, soil media
filters, and discrete underground water quality treatment units to reduce pollutant loadings in Casco Bay
(see photograph on right). The project treats approximately 16.6 acres of impervious cover in an area
surrounding Long Creek. Many of the stormwater system improvements will be located on private
property adjacent to Long Creek, near the Maine Mall in South Portland. The project will reduce
pollutant loadings in the watershed by managing stormwater runoff, while establishing wildlife habitat
and food for aquatic animals and providing shade and temperature control for the stream. These
improvements will ultimately benefit the health of Casco Bay.
To further advance the objectives of the WMP, the Maine Department of Transportation (DOT) also
provided ARRA funding for a porous paving system near the Maine Mall that will be the first application
of a porous paving system on a high volume public road in the Northeast. Working with leaders and
participants in the Long Creek Restoration Project, Maine DOT identified the porous paving system as
one way to contribute to the Restoration Project's goal of restoring Long Creek and the Casco Bay
watershed.
This project is a testament to significant cooperative efforts. Under the Long Creek WMP, private
landowners, municipalities, and state agencies may either pay for individual pollution permits or pay a
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fee to participate in the proposed Restoration Program. The permit fees are determined based on the
area of impervious cover on the property. Although the Restoration Program had not begun collecting
participation fees at the time of receiving funding for the Long Creek Restoration Project, the
Cumberland County Soil and Water Conservation District was able to accept the ARRA CWSRF funds
after four town councils (South Portland, Westbrook, Scarborough, and Portland) voted to create this
program and authorized loans under municipal authority. This fee will serve as the repayment source for
the ARRA CWSRF loan. The Maine DEP structured SRF payments as 100 percent principal forgiveness,
which the majority to be converted back to a conventional loan once the funding mechanism is in place.
To date, municipal and landowner participation in the Long Creek Restoration Project has been high.
This funding mechanism for the Restoration Program has proven to be a remarkable success because
the cost of participating in the program is lower than it would be for landowners to purchase individual
pollution permits. This innovative and cooperative funding arrangement enables communities to fund
important projects quickly and provides a valuable model for other rapidly developing urban
communities throughout New England and the rest of the nation. According to Tamara Lee Pinard,
Executive Director of the Long Creek Watershed Management District, the timing of ARRA and the
funding mechanisms that were offered by Maine's CWSRF program served as a crucial impetus in pulling
together the participation efforts among district members, which has allowed the project to be realized
successfully.
For more information please contact the Maine Clean Water State Revolving Fund
http://www.maine.gov/dep/water/grants/srfparag.html
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