The Brunswick Executive Airport chemical spill sent thousands of gallons of toxic firefighting foam down the sewer drains bound for the Androscoggin River, which has only recently begun to rewrite its century-long history of industrial pollution.

The pipes carried the spill under the 3,100-acre former naval air station to the sewer plant, where it was treated for some of its nastier contaminants but not the forever chemicals that make aqueous film-forming foam, or AFFF, so dangerous. Its next stop? The Androscoggin.

Four days after the Aug. 19 spill, the wastewater chugging from a riverbank outfall pipe across from Cow Island clocked in at 11,689 parts per trillion for the six forever chemicals Maine uses to evaluate drinking water safety, according to water quality tests conducted by the Friends of Merrymeeting Bay.

Ben Francis, left, celebrates with teammates after Orono defeated Oceanside. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

“That was such a shocking number,” said Ed Friedman, a Bowdoinham resident and chairman of Friends of Merrymeeting Bay. “It’s added an almost unfathomable longevity to the river’s pollution problems. We will be dealing with the fallout of this for generations to come.”

Friedman talked about the invisible threat from the edge of the troubled river that he has come to love. A lone bald eagle lands on a railroad bridge overhead, scanning the river below for just the right fish to eat. This was supposed to be a river on the mend.

The Androscoggin River was destined to power industry, with its 162 miles of vertical drops, rapids, and waterfalls between its New Hampshire origin to where it joins with the Kennebec River in Merrymeeting Bay just below Brunswick. But that also made it vulnerable to overuse, and pollution.