Maine Coastal Program

We All Live Downstream

The Maine Coastal Program and the Maine Department of Environmental Protection have been awarded funding from the U.S. EPA to support the development of a coastal swimming beach monitoring protocol and a notification process. The Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health Act (BEACH Act) was signed into law on October 10, 2000. The purpose of the BEACH Act is to reduce disease to users of recreational waters by improving water quality testing at beaches and having more effective public notification when problems exist. In Maine, the monitoring of town beaches and providing public notification is the jurisdiction of the municipality. Towns that have combined sewer overflows (CSOs) are required to either close beaches that could be impacted by the CSOs or monitor and provide public notification. They are also required to provide the State with the results of the previous year’s monitoring. Private beaches are responsible for monitoring their own beaches.

Since the US EPA has awarded the Maine Coastal Program with funding for this project, a steering committee has been formed to develop the protocols, notification system, and perform a survey to assess several aspects of beach use including points of access, extent of use, sampling methodology and interest level of the municipality. The steering committee currently includes the Maine State Planning Office, Maine Department of Health and Human Services, Maine DEP, Department of Marine Resources, University of Maine Cooperative Extension, US Environmental Protection Agency, Friends of Casco Bay, and the Mount Desert Island Water Quality Consortium. For more information contact Paula Thomson, Maine Coastal Program, (Paula.Thomson@maine.gov, 207-287-1482).

For more information on Maine's Healthy Beaches Program, visit the web site at: http://www.mainehealthybeaches.org

EPA Beach Water Quality Links page: http://www.epa.gov/OST/beaches/beachlinks.html

Maine's Coastal Watersheds: Protect Our Coastal Resources

A watershed is a land area--much like a bowl--in which water is collected. This water flows by gravity to another body of water. Coastal watersheds begin with streams and rivers that ultimately flow to coastal areas. They include upstream areas, wetlands, estuaries, beaches, near-shore waters, and offshore habitats. Coastal watersheds offer a number of important functions and amenities, including:

breeding and feeding habitats for a variety of commercially important fish species, shellfish, and waterfowl;
shoreline stabilization and erosion prevention;
recreational opportunities for many boaters, swimmers, anglers and bird watchers; and
attractive locations for people to live.

Approximately 73% of Maine’s 1.25 million residents live on the coast. The number of Maine coastal residents grows every day, with 50,000 new residents over the last decade. Along with population growth, come the impacts of development. Polluted runoff (also called “nonpoint source pollution”) from roads, parking lots, lawns and eroded areas threaten the clean water quality that is so important to our coastal resources and quality of life.

Initiative

Through the Priority Coastal Watersheds Initiative, the Maine Coastal Program and its agency partners work with local watershed organizations to reduce nonpoint source pollution (NPS) in the 17 NPS Priority Coastal Watersheds and the eight salmon river watersheds listed in Maine’s Atlantic Salmon Conservation Plan. The Maine Coastal Program provides funding and technical assistance for watershed management and nonpoint source pollution control efforts in these watersheds.

The Priority Coastal Watersheds Initiative originated in 1998 when the Maine Legislature directed the Department of Environmental Protection to identify the watersheds throughout the state that are being threatened by polluted runoff. Based on this list, Maine state agencies direct their staff time and funding toward these priority areas and work in partnership with local groups to fix nonpoint source pollution problems.

Coastal Watersheds on the Nonpoint Source Priority Watershed List

The following 17 coastal watersheds are on the Nonpoint Source Priority Watershed list. They are listed for a variety of reasons -- toxic contamination of sediments (heavy metals and organic pollutants such as PAHs and PCBs from road runoff), bacterial contamination of clams, lack of sufficient dissolved oxygen in the water for living organisms, and their commercial and ecological resource values (e.g., value of the local clam industry or value of a salt marsh as habitat for commercially-important fish species).

The Priority Coastal Watersheds
Nonpoint Source Priority Watershed	Reason(s) for Listing
Piscataqua River Estuary	toxics, commercial resource value, medium ecological value
Spruce Creek	commercial marine resource value, stormwater rule
York River Estuary	low dissolved oxygen, commercial resource value, medium ecological value
Ogunquit River Estuary	bacteria, low dissolved oxygen, shellfish, medium ecological value
Webhannet River Estuary	bacteria, low dissolved oxygen, shellfish, stormwater rule
Scarborough River Estuary	bacteria, toxics, commercial marine resource value, high ecological value
Royal River Estuary	bacteria, commercial marine resource value, medium ecological value
Cousins River Estuary	bacteria, commercial marine resource value, medium ecological value
Harraseeket River Estuary	bacteria, commercial marine resource value, medium ecological value
Maquoit Bay	bacteria, commercial marine resource value, medium ecological value
New Meadows River Estuary	bacteria, low dissolved oxygen levels, commercial marine resource value, high ecological value
Medomak River Estuary	bacteria, low dissolved oxygen levels, commercial marine resource value, high ecological value
St. George River Estuary	bacteria, low dissolved oxygen levels, commercial marine resource value, high ecological value
Weskeag River	bacteria, low dissolved oxygen levels, shellfish; stormwater rule
Rockland Harbor	bacteria, toxics, commercial marine resource value, medium ecological value
Union River Estuary	bacteria, commercial marine resource value, medium ecological value
Machias River Estuary	bacteria, commercial marine resources, high ecological value

Maine's Eight Salmon Rivers

Sheepscot River
Ducktrap River
Cove Brook
Narraguagus River
Pleasant River
Machias River
East Machias
Dennys River

Protect Your Coastal Watershed

You can help protect your coastal watershed by getting involved in your community:

Organize or participate in a group such as a watershed association, volunteer monitoring group, or land trust;
Receive training from the University of Maine Cooperative Extension to monitor water quality of habitat;
Participate in a watershed survey or Maine Department of Marine Resources' shoreline survey to identify pollution sources;
Start an education campaign to let your neighbors know about nonpoint source pollution;
Help your town or local land trust acquire sensitive lands;
Help your town amend land use ordinances - participate on the local planning board or Conservation Commission;
Help your town develop a comprehensive plan that provides watershed protection - participate on the plan development or revision committee;
Fix pollution problems in the watershed, e.g., plant native vegetation along shorelines to along eroding banks to prevent erosion and trap pollutants; replace failing septic systems;
Use Best Management Practices at your home, e.g., plant native vegetation) that does not require fertilizer), minimize pavement and other surfaces that allow runoff, keep litter, pet waste, leaves and grass clippings out of road gutters and storm drains.

Available Resources

For information on:

Nonpoint Source Priority Coastal Watersheds;
Shore Stewards grant opportunity for watershed surveys, watershed management plan development, nonpoint source education projects, urban stormwater management, water quality monitoring program enhancements;
land use ordinances and comprehensive plan information:

Publications:

The Maine Shore Steward, volunteer monitoring newsletter (free)

contact:

Paula Thomson
Coastal Watershed Planner
Maine Coastal Program/Maine State Planning Office
38 State House Station
Augusta, ME 04333
(207) 287-3261
Email: Paula.Thomson@maine.gov

For information on:

Shellfish Sanitation Program
DMR Water Quality Monitoring Program
Shoreline Surveys

Publications:

Volunteer Manual
Shellfish Sanitation Program (free)

contact:

Volunteer Coordinator
Maine Department of Marine Resources
P.O. Box 8
West Boothbay Harbor, ME 04575
(207) 633-9500

For information on:

watershed surveys
Best Management Practices
watershed management plans
water quality monitoring
DEP’s role in the NPS Priority Watershed Program
319 Nonpoint Source Grant program for watershed surveys
watershed management plan development
watershed assessment projects
best management practices implementation projects

contact:

Don Kale
Maine Department of Environmental Protection
312 Canco Road
Portland, ME 04103
Email: donald.kale@maine.gov

Publications (email your mailing address to order publications: lwpub@maine.gov)

A Citizen’s Guide to Coastal Watershed Surveys (free)
Nonpoint Source Times newsletter

For information on:

water quality monitoring
phytoplankton monitoring
marine habitat monitoring

Publications:

Clean Water: A Manual for Coastal Water Quality Monitoring ($10)
Data to Information: A Guide Book for Coastal Volunteer Water Quality Monitoring Groups in New Hampshire and Maine ($10)
The Maine Clam Handbook: A Community Guide for Improving Shellfish Management ($8)
The Volunteer Monitoring Coordinators Manual ($15)
Phytoplankton Net, newsletter for phytoplankton monitoring groups

contact:

Esperanza Stancioff, Water Quality Biologist
Email: esp@umext.maine.edu
UMaine Cooperative Extension
Knox-Lincoln Counties Office
377 Manktown Road
Waldoboro, ME 04572
1-800-244-2104

Helpful Websites:

Non Point Education for Municipal Officials (NEMO)
http://nemo.uconn.edu/
For information about the impacts of development on water bodies and water ways (NPS pollution), strategies for towns coping with polluted runoff

River Network
http://www.rivernetwork.org
For information about river monitoring and assessment, watershed publications, resources for local watershed groups (e.g., how to fundraise, how to manage a nonprofit organization)

EPA’s Surf Your Watershed
http://cfpub.epa.gov/surf/locate/index.cfm
To locate your watershed and get information about it, find out who is working to protect your watershed

EPA’s Watershed Information Network (WIN)
http://www.epa.gov/owow/watershed/
For watershed information, assistance and services, laws and regulations, information about the Clean Water Action Plan

EPA’s Catalog for Federal Funding Sources for Watershed Protection (Second Edition)
http://www.epa.gov/OWOW/watershed/wacademy/fund.html
For a listing of federal funding programs for watershed projects

Maine Coastal Program

Maine Coastal Program

We All Live Downstream

Maine's Coastal Watersheds: Protect Our Coastal Resources

Initiative

Coastal Watersheds on the Nonpoint Source Priority Watershed List

The Priority Coastal Watersheds

Nonpoint Source Priority Watershed

Reason(s) for Listing

Maine's Eight Salmon Rivers

Protect Your Coastal Watershed

Available Resources

Helpful Websites:

Related Links: