Shorelines
Protecting the beach... and beyond
Residents urged to think regionally as well as
locally
By C. Ayn Douglass
Ogunquit residents attended a special forum on water quality issues hosted by the Conservation Committee on Saturday, June 10. Among those taking part in the event were, from left, Tin Smith of the Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve, LaMarr Cannon Maine Non-point Education for Municipal Officers, Paul Schumacher of Southern Maine Regional Planning Commission and Conservation Committee Chairman Mike Horn.
Photo by C. Ayn Douglass
OGUNQUIT - The Ogunquit Conservation Commission held its first public forum on Saturday, June 10, to begin to consider education and action they may recommend to the town in order to preserve and protect its water resources.
Committee member Susan Starobin said a subcommittee had been working on the forum for about six months to bring in local experts for the event with the "intent to educate people about how important it is to protect the natural resources of Ogunquit. We can't protect without education, but when people in small towns get together, we can get people on board with it."
Southern Maine Regional Planning Commission Director Paul Schumacher told the audience that land conservation issues, both local and regional, are on the forefront of every town's agenda and there was a need for action at all levels - from local towns all the way up to the federal government.
"York County is a satellite for Boston and census figures show Maine is fourth in the U.S. for in-migration. York County leads Maine in population growth because lower housing costs will continue to draw people here," he said. "It's not just retired people moving in. People want to move to the coast."
Schumacher said the best planning is done at the regional level. Ogunquit is small geographically and the best course of action would be to tie into the established land conservation efforts such as the Mount Agamenticus to the Sea initiatives.
"You're not living on an island. The roads don't stop at the York and Wells town lines," he cautioned. "There is a great potential for growth here. You need to figure out how the town can fit into a regional outlook and viewpoint. That's your charge of the day. Think locally, but keep in mind regional."
LaMarr Cannon of Maine Non-point Education for Municipal Officers (NEMO) said that land development is the culprit in runoff polluting rivers, streams and, ultimately, the ocean, and water quality is the big issue for NEMO.
"When it rains, pollution happens. Runoff (comes) from parking lots, soils that are loose, eroding ditches and roadways - anything a dog does will end up in a lake. It's the number one problem of pollution in America," Cannon said.
Under normal conditions where rain is falling on rural soil, 50 percent goes into the ground, 10 percent runs off and 40 percent evaporates, she explained.
"Impervious surface changes those figures. Fifty-five percent ends up as runoff and only 15 percent goes into the soil," she said.
Cannon said Ogunquit census data shows there were 1,468 houses in town in 1990. That number jumped to 2,114, according to the 2000 census. With the increase in home building comes sewer overflow, erosion, flooding and decreased groundwater levels because aquifers are not being recharged.
"One quarter of all land that was converted from rural to development has happened between 1982 and 1997," Cannon said. "It blows my mind."
The outcomes of those changes manifest in reduced shellfish availability, more undesirable nutrients in the water creating algae blooms and increases in water temperature, which affects fish.
"What we're doing on land affects our water quality," she said, advising, "Plan and act, in that order. Green is good. Impervious surfaces impacted the (recent) flooding problem in Ogunquit."
According to Tin Smith, coordinator for the Stewardship Program at the Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve, both Captain Thomas Road and the Route 1 bridge that failed in the Mother's Day storm were affected by buildup in those areas. Neither the culvert system nor the bridge could handle the amount of water that poured through them. In prior years, development along Captain Thomas Road and Route 1 was not as dense and there was not as much impervious area so the ground could absorb the rainfall.
"The river really defines this community," Smith said. "The coastal region is most at risk and the water quality is decreasing. Changes are occurring very quickly and we are experiencing non-point pollution in the Ogunquit River watershed.
Smith is working with the town to develop an Ogunquit River Management Plan. He has walked the watershed and said the Maine Department of Environmental Protection has placed the coastal region on the priority list.
Smith's research shows 160 non-point pollution sites along the river, with 12 sites evaluated as severe and another six as moderate to severe.
"The most pervasive problem is a lack of buffers along streams," he said. "Each individual adds a small but significant impact to the pollution problems, the aggregate being a substantial problem. We've found yard and lawn waste being thrown over the bank and decomposing in the river."
He also pointed out that there are currently no regulations in place against pumping water out of the Ogunquit River to water gardens and lawns.
"Lose this resource and we will forever regret that," Smith said.
Committee members and attendees broke into groups to focus on several major areas of concern. The beaches, salt marshes, rivers and streams, and land west of I-95, are all subcommittee issues.
"Recapitulating from the session, what we heard was what we all thought," said Conservation Committee Chairman Mike Horn. "What it boils down to is an awareness to keep open spaces west of I-95. What's uphill from us affects us."
Contact staff reporter C. Ayn Douglass at cayndouglass@yorkindependent.net.
