Would you swim in this?
On May 9, 2001 Friends of Sebago Lake took a walk along the Presumpscot
River below the SAPPI mill in Westbrook. With the Smelt Hill dam drawn down
five feet, this provided a good opportunity to view this portion of Presumpscot
in a relatively free-flowing condition. Here is what we saw.
Photo above. Native Atlantic salmon, brook trout, American shad
and blueback herring habitat on the Presumpscot River below the SAPPI paper
mill in Westbrook, Maine. Note the water clarity and clean gravel bottom
of the river.
A few hundred feet downstream from where the above photo was taken.
A submerged wastewater treatment pipe spews extemely opaque wastewater into
the river.
A few hundred feet downstream of the submerged discharge pipe, the discolored
wasteewater plume takes over the river and reduces water clarity from 5-6
feet to one foot. This discoloration continues for many miles downriver.
Because access to this reach of the Presumpscot River is extremely difficult
due to high barbed wire fences, private property and no trespassing signs,
FOSL has yet been able to identify the source of this pollution except that
we know it is from a wastewater treatment plant. If you can help identify
it, please email us at one of the addresses shown at the home page.
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