LEWISTON — The city staff is bracing for a tough audit in April that will judge how well they’ve done keeping storm runoff and city sewer overflows out of the city’s streams and the Androscoggin River.
Public Works Director David Jones warned councilors Tuesday that the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and the Federal Environmental Protection Agency would be in city offices on April 15 to check up on the city’s stormwater system.
“We do fully expect that the DEP and the EPA will find deficiencies in our program,” Jones said. “Any good inspector will be able to find a deficiency if they know what they are looking for.”
Jones said he did not know what problems the inspectors would be able to turn up, but said they could involve fines.
“We are not sure yet, but we fully expect they will find deficiencies,” he said. “What the ramifications of that will be, we don’t know.”
Lewiston began working on a federally mandated effort to remove combined storm and sanitary sewer systems in 1999. Those systems can overflow during heavy rainstorms and during snow melts, sending untreated sewage into streams and the Androscoggin River. For example, stormwater overflows sent 136.9 million gallons of combined runoff and sewage into the Androscoggin River in 2000.
The city has been working to build a separate storm sewer system that drains rain and snow runoff from city streets and directs it into area streams. That keeps city sewage away from the river, but it comes with new requirements, such as regularly sweeping the roads to keep sand and road salt from flowing into the river, cleaning catch basins regularly and having plans in place to make sure new construction does not make runoff problems any worse.
Jones said he expects the auditors will review multiple departments in the city. The auditors will review the city’s public education program and efforts — convincing residents not to dump anything but stormwater into street sewer grates, for example.
They’ll also review how well the city is able to find illegal drains, how well connections with streams and the Androscoggin River are mapped, construction site rules and steps the city takes to cut down on potential pollution.
Jones said he believes the federal EPA is pushing the state to be tougher on Maine cities and towns.
“The DEP people have been very helpful and user-friendly for us,” Jones said. “Quite frankly, I think the EPA would like them to carry a bigger stick and beat some people about the head and shoulders a little bit. So it may be a tough inspection.”
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