About
The Long Creek Watershed Management District implements the Long Creek Watershed Management Plan to design, engineer, construct, install, modify, use, maintain, repair, replace, inspect, and monitor public and private stormwater management structures, facilities, and improvements, including structural and non-structural BMPs, within the Long Creek Watershed.
The Long Creek Restoration Project began in 2007 as a collaborative, community-based initiative made up of representatives from the four Long Creek watershed municipalities (South Portland, Portland, Westbrook, and Scarborough), area businesses, non-profit organizations, and state agencies. The result of this initiative was the development of the Long Creek Watershed Management Plan to improve water quality in Long Creek to meet state water quality standards.
What is Long Creek?
Long Creek is a freshwater stream in southern coastal Maine which flows into Clarks Pond before draining into the Fore River and Casco Bay. Long Creek consists of a 3.8 mile main branch and five tributaries: South Branch (~1.76 miles), Blanchette Brook (~1.53 miles), North Branch (~1.39 miles), East Branch (~0.91 miles), and a main branch western tributary (~0.49 miles). In total, Long Creek and its tributaries comprise approximately 10 miles of stream.
Why is Long Creek Regulated?
Land uses in the Long Creek watershed have changed dramatically in the last 70 years. What started as a rural landscape is now a highly developed commercial area. The change in the landscape created intense stormwater conditions that carry pollutants causing degraded water quality, erode the stream channel, and increase water temperatures. These combined effects have degraded the habitat for aquatic life, causing the stream to fail to meet Maine Water Quality Standards.
Under a provision in the Clean Water Act, known as Residual Designation Authority or “RDA”, the United States Environmental Protection Agency requires designated properties in the Long Creek watershed to have a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit for the post-construction discharge of stormwater because these discharges result in violations of Maine Water Quality Standards for Long Creek.
Who are the stakeholders?
The District implements the Long Creek Watershed Management Plan on behalf of 95 regulated landowners.
89 private landowners, primarily commercial and retail properties
3 municipalities
2 state entities: Maine Department of Transportation (Maine DOT) and the Maine Turnpike Authority (MTA)
1 quasi-municipal entity: ecomaine, a regional waste management facility