At ACEC of Maine’s 2025 Fall Forum on November 13, Woodard & Curran’s Back Cove South Combined Sewer Overflow Storage Facility project received an Engineering Excellence Award with Special Recognition for a Resilient Solution for Public and Environmental Improvements.
Kevin Trainor, PE, Barry Sheff, and Megan McDevitt, PE, accept the award plaque for Woodard & Curran’s Back Cove South CSO Storage Facility project at the ACEC Maine Fall Forum.
The Back Cove South Combined Sewer Overflow Storage Facility consists of four cast-in-place storage tanks, a maintenance building, and associated flow management infrastructure and automation equipment. Integrated into the City of Portland’s coastal combined sewer system, it significantly increases system capacity and reduces combined sewer overflows into Portland’s Back Cove and in turn Casco Bay.
For nearly three decades, the City of Portland has focused on sewer separation projects in pursuit of long-term stormwater quality controls. In 2013, the City developed its Tier III Long Term Control Plan (LTCP). In addition to continued separation efforts, the plan identified opportunities for wet weather storage tanks throughout Portland, with a significant focus on Back Cove.
This low-lying area between the city’s peninsula and mainland neighborhoods features commercial developments and a popular park and walking trail. In addition to the issue of combined sewer discharge to the cove, the area is prone to flooding. Winter storms over the last decade have brought heavy winds and wave activity, resulting in erosion along the public waterfront.
Working closely with prime contractor Sargent Corporation and via design-build delivery, Woodard & Curran performed project design for the new 3.5-million-gallon storage facility. Our engineering work included site/civil, environmental, structural, hydraulic and conveyance, mechanical, electrical, plumbing and instrumentation, and controls.
The 3.5-million-gallon combined sewer overflow storage facility is actively reducing overflows to Casco Bay. As designed, this integrated stormwater management measure provides flexibility in flow management for the City’s overall sewer system and decreases cumulative overflow volumes by up to 88 percent.
The project team also integrated resilience measures to improve community assets, such as walking trails, playing fields, and an obstacle course, now situated above the facility’s four storage tanks. By raising the field elevation and redesigning the aboveground amenities, the public spaces abutting Back Cove will be safer, more resilient, and more accessible to the public year round.
