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1. What is stormwater pollution?

Did you know that stormwater pollution is one of the leading causes of water quality problems in the State of Maine?

Stormwater is rain or snowmelt that does not soak into the ground. When it runs off our lawns, driveways, parking lots, and roads, it picks up pollutants that have been spilled on the ground, such as:

• Food products
• Excess fertilizer and pesticides
• Gas
• Litter
• Oil
• Pet waste

Stormwater carries these pollutants, untreated, into the catch basins, storm drains and roadway ditches which in turn flow into waterways, such as:

• The Atlantic Ocean
• Dungeon Brook
• Little River
• Moors Brook
• The Saco River
• Swan Pond Brook
• Thatcher Brook
• West Brook

The City of Biddeford is working to prevent stormwater pollution.

2. What is the City doing to help?

In cooperation with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, the City of Biddeford:

• Develops and implements an operation and maintenance program with the ultimate goal of preventing or reducing pollutant runoff from municipal operations into the storm sewer system
• Educates municipal employees so that they can recognize and report illicit discharges when they observe them
• Implements, and enforces a program to reduce pollutants in storm water runoff to their MS4 from construction activities that result in a land disturbance of greater than or equal to one acre
• Provides a reasonable way for residents to properly dispose of hazardous materials in order to reduce the incentive to dump hazardous materials into the storm sewer system (or the sanitary sewer system) by having a hazardous waste collection day 3 times per year (along with Saco and Scarborough)
• Removes sand and sediment and associated pollutants from catch basins and other stormwater structures to reduce their discharge to waters of the state
• Removes sand and sediment and associated pollutants from publicly owned roads, and parking lots to reduce their discharge into the storm sewer system by street sweeping activities