Kennebunk River Watershed Engagement Session (Kennebunks)

Public Input Session: Kennebunk & Kennebunkport

Your input is needed. The Kennebunk River Watershed Committee has wrapped up its water quality sampling and would like community input about the results and help developing actions for the upcoming action plan. Current conditions in the River do not adequately support aquatic life. To provide input, please:

1. Review the Story Map
2. Take the Survey (in the Story Map)
3. Register for the Zoom meeting to have a community-specific discussion about water quality testing results, survey results, and talk about Kennebunk and Kennebunkport-specific issues of concern. 

About the Project

The Kennebunk River and its tributaries are important recreational and ecological resources to the towns of Kennebunk, Kennebunkport, Arundel, and Lyman. However, the river currently does not meet State of Maine water quality standards. The Maine Department of Environmental Protection (MDEP) reports that the Kennebunk river experiences ongoing fecal indicator bacterial contamination and conditions that do not adequately support aquatic life.

In January of 2019, the York County Soil and Water Conservation District (YCSWCD), in partnership with Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve (WNERR), was awarded a 604b watershed-based plan development grant for the watershed. Funding for this project was provided, in part, by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under Section 604(b) of the Clean Water Act. The funding is administered by the MDEP in partnership with the U.S. EPA. The watershed-based plan is intended to identify current problems within the watershed and provide long-term strategies to address these issues.

As a crucial step in developing this watershed-based plan for the Kennebunk River, project partners are seeking input from the public to share what they believe to be the most important issues in their communities. An interactive story map presentation has been created to showcase the results of surveys and monitoring that have already been completed in the watershed and is available HERE for review of the current status of water quality issues. Those interested in participating are asked to read through this story map and complete a brief survey to identify which issues they believe to be critical to their communities and what actions they want to see taken to address these water quality issues in the future. Priorities identified by the members of the watershed communities will be incorporated into the final watershed-based management plan.