The current wastewater treatment plant on Front Street abuts the Saco River and is next to a public boat launch. Proposed changes will expand publicly accessible green spaces. Janet Briggs/Mainely Media
After years of planning and site research, the Saco Planning Board finally approved the wastewater treatment plant renovation.
The City of Saco requested a full upgrade to the water resource recovery facility or wastewater treatment plan. The proposed plan includes construction of a new wastewater tank in place of the existing Front Street garbage at 68 Front St.
“The purpose of this upgrade is to combat climate change impacts the facility is already experiencing from sea level rise, extreme and intensifying wet weather events, and flooding,” Director of the Saco Water Resource Recovery Department Howard Carter said in a Aug. 7 letter to the planning board. “If this project does not happen, the facility will continue to flood and be vulnerable to impact of wet weather events, sea level rise and general climate change impacts.”
The site has been used for sewage treatment since the early 1970s and had its last major upgrade in 2009. These proposed changes have been in the planning stages since 2018 with the Maine Climate Council in 2020 indicating the site could cost the state more than $43 million if nothing is improved.
Into 2021, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency along with the Saco Coastal Resiliency Ad-hoc Committee worked to create the proposed site plan. Funding for the plan was put to Saco voters in the form of a not-to-exceed-$50 million bond, which was approved in November 2021. Since then, the plan has been put into the engineering design phase and has accrued approximately $10 million in grant funding from both the EPA Community Grants and Clean Water State Revolving Fund.
The planning board previously reviewed initial sketch plans for the proposed site in a workshop on March 7. The planning board also approved tree clearing and trash demolition on the proposed Front Street site on March 21, preempting the site plan’s final approval.
The proposed plan will increase green space on the site while also improving the function of the wastewater treatment facility. Courtesy of the Saco Planning Board
As part of this plan, the new wastewater tank will use an aerobic granular sludge treatment process, which can reduce energy consumption by up to 50 percent and its process footprint by almost 75 percent, according to Aqua-Aerobic Systems. Along with these environmental combatants, the buildings on the site will be raised to over 14 feet above sea level to counteract projected sea level rise that may affect the plant.
The site will include green space and refurbishing of the riverwalk trail that runs along the site as well as improvements to the wastewater treatment facility. In addition, public restrooms and amenities will be added at the front of the plant near the proposed green spaces as well as a mural space that will be filled in.
With board approval, construction on the site will begin this fall, with the base garage building that is currently at the front of the site expected to be torn down on Sept. 1 and further construction to be underway by Sept. 26.
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