Maine towns Stonington and Norridgewock are taking action against climate change by fortifying infrastructure to combat rising tides and worsening storms. Stonington's coastal protection projects and Norridgewock's water main upgrade demonstrate the urgent need for resilience in the face of environmental challenges.
In Stonington, Maine, Town Manager Kathleen Billings has the Federal Emergency Management Agency's 2016 100-year flood map tacked on the wall above her desk.
Eight years later, she is leading her town in efforts to fortify the community's infrastructure against ocean warming, worsening storms and rising tides.
Stonington municipal officials recently unveiled the first three projects of its climate resiliency plan. The first is to raise a 400-ft.-long stretch of Oceanville Road by 4 ft.
Dale Haley's home and business are just beyond where the construction will occur.
He has been there since 1987, but in all that time, Haley told WCSH-TV in Portland, he has not witnessed storms quite like the ones that hit Maine's coastal communities in January.
"Well, it was unreal, really," he said. "We've had surges before, but nothing like that."
Stonington's second protective effort will take place at Fifield Point Road, where Travis Fifield's family has lived for more than 200 years.
Fifield said he has noticed how the water he and his family rely on has changed over the decades.
"You know the cove, when I was a kid, still froze over," he explained. "That hasn't happened in a while now."
Fifield has already lifted his business's wharf, but the powerful back-to-back coastal storms in January showed that that was not enough. Yet, staying on the water is the only way his business survives — something not all folks understand.
"You know, it's really easy to say, 'Just move, just retreat, build it somewhere else,'" he added. "But for our business, there is no building somewhere else."
According to WCSH-TV's Aug. 12 news report, Stonington's final project is slated to be at Odd Fellows Hall on Main Street. The town recently acquired the property so that it could use the new site to protect the nearby shore and create better business opportunities downtown.
Linda Nelson, the town's economic and community development director, told the Portland news outlet that Stonington officials are "achieving a lot of different goals all at the same time."
"We are providing more float space for dinghies, which we desperately need," she continued. "We are providing a stronger, more resilient shoreline, which Main Street needs. And we are providing the public access to this beautiful shore front."
However, Nelson is not fully confident the efforts to build higher will solve the problem.
"We are all recognizing that the climate is moving faster than people expected," she said. "But no, I don't think it's enough."
In addition to fortification, Nelson emphasized that Stonington needs to reduce waste and pollution to boost its chances in the battle against climate change.
So far, the Oceanville Road project is the only one far enough along to have an estimated price tag of $1.8 million attached to it.
But town officials said their three efforts are just the beginning. In all, about a dozen locations have already been identified by Stonington for shoreline fortification, according to WCSH-TV.
State Grant to Fund Critical Norridgewock Water Main Project
A crucial part of Norridgewock, Maine's water infrastructure, is set to be upgraded to improve its resiliency to flooding, due to a $1.05 million state grant awarded Aug. 9.
The grant, intended to fund improvements to the Norridgewock Water District's water main on Upper Main Street, is part of $25.2 million in grants awarded to 39 communities from the Maine Infrastructure Adaptation Fund, according to the office of Gov. Janet Mills.
Robbie Bickford, chair of the water district's board of trustees, said the town's existing water main — about 3,400 ft. of pipe underneath Upper Main Street along the Kennebec River — is at risk if the embankment fails due to flooding and severe storms.
"It's not currently falling apart due to this embankment, but it is in imminent danger," Bickford told the Waterville News Sentinel on Aug. 12.
With the funding, the water district plans to move the main to the other side of the right of way through an easement it has already received, he explained.
The water main is a crucial part of the district's infrastructure, bringing water from its wells and pumping stations to its nearly 400 customers.
The quasi-municipal utility serves residences, government buildings and industrial customers in Norridgewock as well as providing water for the town's fire protection.
The water district repaired leaking from the main around the time of a major storm last December that brought historic flooding to Maine, but Bickford said officials are unsure if the storm caused the damage.
The existing pipe was first installed in the 1950s, and, he noted, most pipes have a 50- to 100-year life expectancy.
"If that water main were to collapse or be broken, there would be no water for the residents of Norridgewock or fire protection," Bickford said in speaking with the Morning Sentinel. "It's really our only pipeline to get water for the people of Norridgewock."
The state grant is expected to cover most of the project's cost.
"This kind of capital improvement is rare for us, just because of the impact on our customers," he said. "As a water district, we are owned by the ratepayers. We're not part of the town. Any of the funding has to come from the people who use the water, so getting this grant allows us to do this project and make sure that we aren't in a crisis."
The Norridgewock Water District has yet to schedule work on the project, which is subject to availability of materials and contractors, though Bickford is hoping the district can begin work later this construction season.
"With the risk that we're seeing of that embankment collapsing, the sooner the better," he said.
The Maine Infrastructure Adaptation Fund, created in 2021, was funded by $60 million approved through the state supplement budget last May. It represented the single largest investment in storm recovery in the state's history.
The recent round of grant awards from the fund was intended to help Maine communities recover and build more resilient infrastructure after severe storms last winter.
Projects funded in other municipalities include upgrading culverts, moving or stabilizing roads at risk of flooding, and improving storm drainage infrastructure.
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