Signs at the entrance to East End Beach on Sunday tell visitors that it is temporarily closed. Portland officials closed the beach on Sunday afternoon after a malfunction at nearby sewage treatment facilities. The beach will remain closed until water levels are tested to determine if it is safe, the city said. Brianna Soukup / Staff Photographer
Portland officials closed East End Beach on Sunday after the Portland Water District notified them of a “malfunction” that occurred at the nearby East End Wastewater Treatment Plant.
Jessica Grondin, a spokeswoman for the city of Portland, said the popular beach will remain closed until test results show that the water conditions are safe for swimmers.
The shutdown took place after a Central Maine power line supplying electricity to the plant was shut down around 8:15 a.m. Sunday, according to Scott Firmin, director of the wastewater treatment plant. To further complicate the power outage, a backup generator was produced at the plant that was unable to generate power.
As a result, an undetermined amount of wastewater discharge left the plant and entered Casco Bay, but was not completely disinfected, Firmin said. Power was restored around 2:30 pm and a rented portable generator was brought in as a security measure.
“Our disinfection system was disrupted and as a precaution I made a call to the city and warned them,” Firmin said Sunday night.
The Maine Department of Environmental Protection was also notified. Firmin said he must file a report with DEP explaining what happened at the plant on Friday. He said the decision to reopen East End Beach will be up to the city after analyzing the test results.
The Portland Water District owns and operates the treatment plant, which serves 60,000 people and handles an average of 20 million gallons of water each day. The water district says its facility, located just west of Interstate 295 Bridge between East Deering and Munjoy Hill, is the largest in the state.
The closure of the beach on Sunday represents the second time in two years that the malfunctioning of the treatment plan has forced the city to close East End Beach.
On July 26, 2018, the city temporarily closed East End Beach because a disinfection tank was not put back into operation after cleanup and a second tank was overwhelmed by high flows caused by heavy rains during the night. When the tank overflowed, about 1.69 million gallons of partially treated wastewater spilled, which flowed down an embankment and entered Casco Bay west of East End Beach and the launch of the ship.
The 2018 event also removed the section of the Eastern Promenade Trail that adjoins the treatment plant. The Portland Water District attributed the spill to human error. Repairs to the walking trail and treatment facilities cost between $ 30,000 and $ 50,000.
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