Neighborhood Meeting to Discuss Storage Conduit Project

Portland, Maine - Public meeting to discuss installation of underground storage tanks and traffic control plans for Baxter Boulevard.


What:   Next week, the City of Portland’s Department of Public Services will host a second neighborhood meeting to discuss the Baxter Boulevard North Storage Conduit project, which is intended to capture and reduce the volume of combined sewer overflow released into the Back Cove. The meeting will focus on traffic control options for the project, which involves the installation of an underground concrete box conduit able to store up to two million gallons of combined wastewater that can then be sent to the East End Wastewater Treatment Facility instead of being discharged untreated into Back Cove.  Two separate one million gallon conduits will be installed, one located under Baxter Boulevard and the other under Payson Park. As a result this winter, a section of Baxter Boulevard between Vannah Street and Bates Street will be closed to all vehicular traffic for up to eight months. Motorists will be detoured. Pedestrians, runners and bicyclists will continue to have access to the trail system while construction is underway.



Currently, more than half of the city’s sewer system combines sewage and stormwater into a single drainage system. During wet weather, a portion of this combined sewage, which includes stormwater, residential sewage and industrial waste, overflows into Portland’s streams, rivers and coastal waters untreated. This water pollution carries pathogens that can make swimmers sick, can contaminate seafood and overall, has serious impacts on the health of the Casco Bay.  In addition to more than $70 million worth of projects designed to separate sections of the city’s sewer system from its stormwater system, the city is also investing in underground storage units as a cost-effective way to reduce the release of combined sewer and stormwater into the city’s natural waterways during heavy rain events. Under federal order between 1993 and 2010, the City Council funded projects that reduced sewer overflow volumes by 42% from 1993 levels of 720 million gallons to 420 million gallons annually. Last year, the City Council approved a plan supporting $170 million of additional projects that would reduce sewer overflow volumes to 87 million gallons annually (an 88% reduction since 1993). This plan is set to begin in 2014.

When: Thursday, November 15, 2012
6:00 PM              
Where: Presumpscot Elementary School
69 Presumpscot Street, Portland