Sustainable Westbrook

07/01/2024

Remember - Storm drains transport water to the nearest waterbody UNTREATED. We all live downstream! 🐟

Anything that goes in here…will end up here.
Our stormwater doesn’t get treated, filtered, or cleaned before entering our lakes, ponds, rivers, streams, wetlands, and bays.

05/30/2024

Did we mention there will be candy? There WILL be candy!

We’re partnering with the City of Westbrook’s stormwater program for a Westbrook Together Days booth all about the City’s stormwater (the City has over 3,000 storm drains!) and how it impacts our rivers and streams. We’ll have information on common water pollutants and how to help prevent them, giveaways, games, and a photo opportunity with the Quacken!🐥

We hope to see you there (look for the giant duck)!

Event details:
Friday, May 31, 2024 from 4:00-10:00 PM
Saturday, June 1, 2024 from 7:00 AM-10:00 PM
Riverbank Park (677 Main Street, Westbrook, ME 04092)

05/24/2024

The alewives are running and, once again, their trip up and down Mill Brook is featured in National Geographic. What an amazing natural phenomenon to occur within our City of Westbrook.

National Geographic photographer Brian Skerry has been diving in the Gulf of Maine for more than 40 years. After learning these waters were a harbinger of climate change, he set out to document the rapid shift and its ripple effects.

05/21/2024

We are very fortunate to such a high quality drinking water source!

Portland Water District officials said its equipment can detect as low as 2.0 ppt. In many cases, amounts of PFAS were undetectable.

05/20/2024

Stop by our Westbrook Public Services table at Together Westbrook Together Days to learn about ways to keep our waters safe and healthy!

05/13/2024

You may see someone in blue car and fluorescent vest parked in odd areas and emerging from roadside shrubbery over the next 6 weeks. It isn't Bigfoot in a stolen City vehicle but a member of our staff inspecting the stormwater system. Stormwater drains to whatever waterbody is nearest without treatment and these inspections help us ensure that the hardware of the system is working properly and that pollutants aren't getting into the pipes. Remember we all live downstream! 💧

05/03/2024

Don't forget to clean those heating and cooling filters!

Here is a tip to help you get the most out of your heat pump this spring:

Clean your dust filters.

Heat pumps work best when dust filters are clean. Vacuum or rinse the dust filters whenever they become visibly dirty or when the indicator light comes on.

We hope this tip helps you maximize the benefit of your heat pump. For more tips, go to efficiencymaine.com/heat-pump-user-tips/

05/03/2024

If you weren't with Westbrook Middle School students and staff, the Cumberland County Soil & Water Conservation District and Westbrook Public Services staff learning about Beaver Pond Brook and releasing young trout this morning, what were you even doing? What a great morning! Thank you so much to the Conservation District and Westbrook Middle School staff who made this event happen. Outstanding! 💧💧💧

04/24/2024

As we celebrate Earth Week, let's look at one of the jewels of the City of Westbrook the Presumpscot River. Click the link below to learn about water quality in the river now and over time. We bet you'll find the results better than you expect.

As a City we work hard to support and protect the waters of the Presumpscot. Whether we are designing projects to highlight the river, maintaining the River Walk so that resident can enjoy these waters or enforcing our stormwater permit to minimize pollution, the Presumpscot River, and all our local waters, are a major focus here in Westbrook.
💧💧💧💧💧💧💧💧💧💧💧💧💧💧💧💧💧💧💧💧💧💧💧💧💧
WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP?
+ Visit the Presumpscot Regional Land Trust page to learn about the river and, if interested, sign up to volunteer to help them.

+ Never dump anything down a storm drain - they connect directly with the nearest water body untreated.

+ Avoid using excess salt in the winter. It gets carried into our rivers and streams and is highly toxic for freshwater ecosystems.

+ Don't feed the ducks! We know people don't like this request but feeding the duck is bad for the birds and bad for the water. The natural environment really does provide everything our duck need without creating overpopulated communities and bacteria issues in the water.

+ Pick up your dog's waste. Pet waste is a significant source of bacteria and by leaving it on the ground, it gets washed into river and streams which is both gross and dangerous!

If you have questions, please call Lynn at 207-591-8135 or email [email protected].

The Presumpscot River watershed covers much of Greater Portland and is the largest freshwater input into Casco Bay.  As the region has quickly grown, so has recreational use of the river; there are now over 20 water access points for paddling the river, several swimming holes, and numerous great fi...

04/22/2024

See below to learn about some of the work the City of Westbrook is doing to protect our environment!

The City of Westbrook works to protect our environment on Earth Day and every day!

Did you know that soil is the number one cause of water quality issues in the United States? We combat that by inspecting construction sites, sweeping streets, cleaning out catch basins and inspecting storm drain outfalls (where the storm drain system empties into a nearby waterbody without treatment) to detect and eliminate sources of pollution. To further combat pollution, we are partnering with the City of Portland, Maine to reduce the harmful impacts of road salt in the Capisic and Nason’s Brook watersheds and taking part in a regional effort to minimize pet waste left on the ground and in catch basins. We’ve even built features into City projects to minimize stormwater runoff and therefore water pollution. You’ll see those features highlighted on social media and our website throughout spring and summer.

You might notice that we are not hosting our annual spring Community Clean Up Day for litter this year. Participation in that event has never been strong so we are letting our Public Services crew manage spring clean up while we plan a fun, new event for later this year. In the meantime, you’ll see the stormwater staff (supported by a LARGE and colorful guest) at Together Days educating residents on the importance of protecting our waters! Later in the fall we’ll be hosting our annual Household Hazardous Waste Day so you can safely dispose of your household chemicals for free.

To further support our environment, many of us will be completing our work in electric vehicles at the same time as we move forward on a project to install solar panels in the City!

If you want to help us keep Westbrook Clean and Green, take part in public events, use your blue curbside recycle bin thoughtfully and keep an eye on this space as we celebrate Earth Week by going into detail on some of the topics mentioned in this post. If you have questions, please message us, reach out to Public Services at 854-0660 or email [email protected] and don’t forget to get outside, have some fun and take a minute to enjoy a beautiful Maine spring!