Aerial view of the Warren, Maine lagoon system. Photo courtesy of Woodard and Curran.

Lagoon Systems In Maine 

Lagoon
Systems In Maine
 



An Informational Resource for
Operators of Lagoon Systems

Mars Hill Wastewater Lagoon System - Mars Hill  Maine. Photo Courtesy of Wright-Pierce Engineers.
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Penobscot Watershed and Development of a TMDL 


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STAKEHOLDER INVOLVEMENT IN
WATERSHED-BASED PERMITTING:


The Penobscot River Example

by

David Mitchell, P.H.D.
Senior Ecologist
ENSR

Ken Gallant
Senior Environmental Engineer
Champion Paper Company

   Watershed-based decision-making has become increasingly important in the development of discharge permits throughout the nation.  Numerous states have reorganized their water quality planning and permitting sections along watershed boundaries to coordinate data collection, facilitate analysis, and synchronize permit issuances, including development of Total Daily Maximum Loads (TMDLs) for impaired waters identified under Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 303(d).  The development of a TMDL for the Penobscot River, Maine provides a good example of the challenges inherent to watershed-based planning and the need for stakeholder input.  This paper highlights the activities of the Penobscot River Basin Dischargers Council (PRBDC), a private, voluntary group of industrial and municipal dischargers, during the development of the TMDL.  Early involvement by PRBDC members in the Penobscot River TMDL development was important due to the wide and divergent spectrum of stakeholders in the basin.  PRBDC activities included: preliminary discussions with regulatory staff, input on river sampling work plans, involvement in river and effluent discharge sampling, evaluation of sampling results, and comments on the draft TMDL.

Click here to view the 
entire TMDL Study


 

   Penobscot Watershed

   New England's second largest river system, the Penobscot drains an area of 8,570 square miles. Its West Branch rises near Penobscot Lake on the Maine/Quebec border; the East Branch at East Branch Pond near the headwaters of the Allagash River. The main stem empties into Penobscot Bay near the town of Bucksport.

   The river is tidal from the base of the Veazie Dam to its mouth near Bucksport (approx. 25 miles) and is brackish to the town of Hampden. The river's total fall from Penobscot Lake on the South Branch is 1,602 feet. 

   During the nineteenth century, the Penobscot became the primary means of transporting logs out of the North Woods to Bangor--then called the "timber capital of the world".

   The river's West Branch from Ripogenus Dam to the Pemadumcook Lakes is famous for its numerous falls and rapids which provide outstanding whitewater rafting and angling for wild landlocked Atlantic salmon. 

   Terrain ranges from steep mountains including Maine's highest, Mt.Katahdin, rolling hills and extensive bogs, marshes and wooded swamps.

   Most of the watershed is forested, intensively harvested for pulp and saw logs and sparsely settled. The only major urban area in the watershed is the riverfront cities of Bangor and Brewer. 

   A major agricultural area (dairy and potato farming) is concentrated in the Kenduskeag Stream watershed west of Bangor with smaller areas located in intervals of the lower Piscataquis River. Paper mills are located on West Branch at Millinocket and East Millinocket, and on the main-stem at Lincoln, Old Town, Brewer and Bucksport.

   The Penobscot is home to many fish, including native brook trout, landlocked salmon, small mouth bass, white perch and chain pickerel are prevalent resident species. Sea-run species include Atlantic salmon, alewives, American shad, American eel, sea lamprey, striped bass, tomcod, rainbow smelt and occasional Atlantic sturgeon. 

   Most sea-run species except smelt and eels are found in numbers far below historic levels because of non-existent or inadequate fish passage facilities on main-stem and tributaries, past pollution and loss of habitat due to dam construction. 

   The Penobscot is best known for its large historic salmon run (50,000 or more adults) and its much smaller contemporary run, which is the largest Atlantic salmon run remaining in the United States (1,000-4,000 adults in recent decades)

 

 

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 The Penobscot Watershed
Penobscot River Watershed in Maine

 

 Penobscot Data:

Length:  240 miles (West Branch to Bucksport)

Drainage area:  8,570 square miles

Discharge at mouth: 10.1 billion gallons/day (avg.)

Rivers, Streams, and Lakes in the Penobscot Watershed:

Alamoosook Lake  Abacontnetic Stream
Alder Brook
Allagash Stream
Baker Brook
Big Stream Brook
Birch Stream
Black Stream
Blackman Stream
Brayley Brook
Brewer Lake 
Chemo Pond 
Caucomgomoc Stream
Cold Stream
Cold Stream Pond    Davidson Brook
Dead Stream
Dolby Pond
Dole Brook
Dole Pond
Ebhorse Stream
Ellis Brook
Elm Stream
French Stream
Great Works Stream
Gulliver Brook
Hay Brook
Hemlock Stream
Hoyt Brook
Hudson Brook
Hurricane Brook
Johnston Brook
Katahdin Brook
Kenduskeag Stream
Kidney Brook
Little Lake Brook
 Little Nesowandnehunk Stream
Margascal Stream
 Marsh Stream Mattamiscontis Stream Mattawamkeag River Medunkeunk Stream Millinocket Stream
Mud Brook
Nesowadnehunk Stream Nicatous Lake
Norris Brook
Nulheadus Stream
Olamon Stream
Orland River
Passadumkeag River Penobscot Brook
Pine Stream
Piscataquis River
Pushaw Lake
 Ragged Stream
Ragmuff Stream
Rainey Brook
Red Brook
Ripogenous Stream
Roberts Brook
Russell Stream
Salmon Stream
Sam Ayers Stream
Sawtelle Brook
Sebois River
Shin Brook
Silver Lake 
Stratton Brook
Sunhaze Stream
Swift Brook
Telos Brook
Toddy's Pond
Trout Brook
Wadleigh Stream Wassataquoik Stream Wyman Brook



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