The nation's top environmental regulator visited Saco on Monday to highlight how a recent federal infrastructure bill will help address water quality and climate projects.
EPA administrator Michael Regan toured the Saco Water Resource Recovery facility along with Maine Rep. Chellie Pingree to see how flooding is affecting the wastewater treatment plant. Last November, Saco voters approved up to $50 million in borrowing for facility upgrades, which officials have said are even more critical as sea levels rise.
Saco hopes to receive some of the more than $68 million allocated for projects in Maine this year from the recent infrastructure bill passed by Congress. Regan noted that the bill contained $50 billion for water projects alone.
"That's $50 billion with a ‘B,’” Regan said during a press conference after his tour. “We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to build a better America, to invest in systems that can handle the threats of the climate crisis while safeguarding our local waters and creating hundreds, hundreds of thousands and in some cases millions of jobs."
Pingree, who chairs the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees EPA funding, said the Saco facility is an example of how flooding can affect both the environment and the local economy because so many jobs are tied to fishing, beaches and tourism. Pingree said the infrastructure bill is the single largest investment ever in water infrastructure and that money is critical to communities facing massive improvement projects.
"There's no way a city like this of 20,000 people could do it without the federal law, and that's why the bipartisan infrastructure bill is so important and why I was so proud to be able to support that,” Pingree said.
Howard Carter, the director of Saco's wastewater treatment facility, said the project cost was estimated at $54 million before prices began rising. So the city hopes to spread that work out over several years.
"We really want to get out front of this because there are so many commercial fishermen, so many entities, clammers, Old Orchard Beach,” Carter said. “Imagine Old Orchard Beach closing down over the summer because we had an upset treatment plant."
The facility located on the banks of the Saco River services nearly 12,000 residents and 400 businesses.
Maine Public correspondent Ari Snider contributed to this report from Saco.
