Local Volunteers to Help Twin Cities Keep River Clean‏

Lewiston/Auburn, Maine - The Cities of Lewiston and Auburn are teaming up to help enhance their clean water efforts.  As such, the Twin Cities will host a storm drain stenciling event on Sunday, June 28 at 1 pm. The rain date for the event is July 12. Volunteers will meet at Festival Plaza in Auburn for a brief clean water discussion on the banks of the Androscoggin River and then split up to conduct the stenciling in the Whitney Street neighborhood in Auburn and off Webster Street and Pleasant Street in Lewiston. Volunteer participants will include 25 members of Girl Scout troops 1524, 2013, and 2012 and their parents.                  

The stencils, as shown above, mark the street near City drainage structures. Storm drain stenciling is intended to help educate the public about the fact that storm drains in the area drain directly into local bodies of water. Storm drains do not lead to treatment plants, and any pollution or trash carried from rain events or snowmelt will eventually lead untreated to the Androscoggin River, Lake Auburn, and other smaller streams in both communities. The illegal dumping of waste or trash into the drainage system can create pollution and clog drainage systems creating backups, nuisance flooding, and requires expensive cleaning operations.

Over the last 10 years, the Environmental Protection Agency has regulated stormwater discharges under the Clean Water Act. The General Permit for the Discharge of Stormwater from Small Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems, commonly known as the MS4 permit, obligates the Androscoggin Valley Stormwater Working Group, which includes the municipalities of Auburn, Lewiston, Lisbon, and Sabattus, to develop a stormwater management program and implement a number of pollution control measures. Thirty (30) communities in Maine must comply with these regulations, and recent EPA and Maine DEP audits in both communities will likely obligate the communities to additional clean water efforts and expenditures. Public engagement in pollution prevention, such as environmentally sensitive lawn care, can greatly assist the municipalities in keeping down compliance costs to taxpayers.

Two of the permit’s control measures require public education on stormwater impacts and public participation in reduction efforts. The stenciling project is part of this program. The public education campaign also provides information on lawn care tips for residents to help do their part. Residents can Mow High and Let the Clippings Lie instead of using fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides, because runoff from lawns carry all these chemicals into the storm drain system. Taller grass helps maintain healthy soil, which absorbs more water and reduces polluted runoff from lawns, and grass clippings are a natural fertilizer. Using rainwater to water lawns instead of public water, which contains chlorine, is another way to reduce the use of chemicals and protect the quality of local water bodies.