Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)

As part of the Long Creek watershed cleanup effort, this chamber filtration system is being installed under the parking lot at Mall Plaza in South Portland
This new sand filter behind Dick’s Sporting Goods allows stormwater to spread and soak through layers of soil, mulch and stone
Long Creek is surrounded by many impervious surfaces in the Maine Mall area that contribute to its poor water quality
The biomonitoring team suits up in hopes of finding a variety of macroinvertebrates that survive in clean water
Look closely to see the three sampling bags in the creek. Maine is a national leader in using biological data to identify the health of waterbodies
Sitting down on the job, staff separates, by hand and the use of sieve buckets, the organisms from their temporary rock homes
The team collects algae and animals without backbones that can be seen with the naked eye. This tiny salamander is set free.
Beth readies the instrument that will measure the amount of dissolved oxygen in the creek. Adequate dissolved oxygen is needed for good water quality
Samples are preserved, carefully recorded and prepared for shipment to a lab for detailed observation and identification
Everything gets packed up and the rock sacks will be used again on a future sampling event to determine water quality of a Maine waterbody

Biomonitoring Long Creek

As part of a plan to improve water quality in the Long Creek watershed in the area of the Maine Mall in South Portland, arched chambers are being installed below the Mall Plaza parking lot to capture pollutants that wash off pavement and other surfaces. This project is in addition to a 30,000 square foot sand filter that has recently been installed behind Dick’s Sporting Goods. In order to measure the current health of Long Creek, DEP biologists collect aquatic macroinvertebrates from the creek as part of its biological monitoring program. The process involves placing bags of rocks in the creek for approximately one month. The rock bags simulate the natural habitat of the small creatures. By monitoring them, the DEP can tell what the water quality is like over time, not just at the time of sampling. The macroinvertebrate sampling is coupled with chemical water quality sampling to find out the extent of the pollution problem. The different types of creatures collected are visible without a microscope, are preserved in sampling jars, sent off to labs where they are identified and counted to give a profile of the health of the waterbody. More information on the department’s biological monitoring program

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Biomonitoring Long Creek

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