Biosolids Management

Every day, wastewater treatment protects public health, local waterways, and the environment. After wastewater is treated, biosolids remain and must be managed responsibly.


Biosolids are the treated solids generated during the wastewater treatment process. Managing them safely is an essential part of providing reliable wastewater service.

Regional Biosolids Management Facility

Request for Qualifications

The Challenge

For decades, biosolids were beneficially reused through land application. That practice ended in Maine following PFAS concerns and changes in state law, leaving landfills as the primary disposal option for many wastewater utilities.

Today, Maine’s wastewater utilities face a growing challenge. Disposal options are becoming more limited and costly, state landfills are reaching capacity, and available out-of-state options are unpredictable and costly.

Maine’s biosolids management costs have DOUBLED in five years and are expected to continue to rise rapidly and could redouble in the next 5 to 10 years.

An Urgent Need for a Long-Term Biosolids Management Plan in Maine
Prepared by the Maine Water Environment Association, published feb. 2026

Unless Something Goes Terribly Wrong, the documentary filmed at the East End Wastewater Treatment Facility, provides a powerful look at the growing PFAS-driven biosolids management crisis and the urgent need for reliable, long-term disposal solutions.

Planning Ahead For Maine’s Wastewater Future: A Regional Maine Approach

Built by Maine Communities, for Maine Communities

Portland Water District is advancing a regional biosolids management facility concept intended to serve PWD and other participating wastewater utilities in southern Maine and potentially elsewhere in the state. Biosolids management is a statewide challenge that no single utility can solve alone.

By working with regional partners, Maine communities can share resources, reduce risk, strengthen long-term resilience, and develop solutions that reflect shared public-health and environmental priorities. A coordinated, publicly guided approach helps ensure decisions remain focused on protecting the environment, supporting reliable wastewater service, managing costs responsibly for ratepayers, and avoiding a costly disposal crisis later.

Act Now

Acting now is vital because Maine’s disposal options are becoming more limited and costly, while the infrastructure needed to create a reliable long-term solution takes years to design, permit, and build.

Frequently Asked Questions

Biosolids are the treated solids that remain after wastewater is cleaned. They are produced as part of the wastewater treatment process. 

Land application is the practice of applying treated biosolids to land as a soil amendment or fertilizer. Biosolids can provide nutrients and organic matter, but concerns about PFAS and other contaminants have significantly limited this disposal option in Maine.

For decades, treated wastewater biosolids were applied to agricultural land in Maine as a fertilizer and soil amendment. After PFAS contamination concerns emerged at some former application sites, Maine became the first state in 2022 to ban land application of sludge and sludge.

Current biosolids disposal options are becoming more limited and more costly. PWD is planning for a long-term solution that helps protect the environment, supports reliable wastewater service, stabilizes costs, and manages PFAS-related challenges.

The facility is currently planned for ecomaine’s ashfill property off County Road in Westbrook. The exact design and site layout will be developed during preliminary design.

Yes. The project is intended to serve Portland Water District and participating wastewater utilities throughout southern Maine and potentially elsewhere in the state. The facility is not designed to take or solicit out-of-state material.

PFAS management is a central part of the project. The facility is being designed to treat facility liquid waste streams and landfill leachate for PFAS before those liquids are returned to PWD’s wastewater treatment system for additional treatment and permitted discharge.

The project will include advanced odor-control and air-emissions treatment systems. Preventing nuisance odors will be a major design and operating priority.

Yes. The facility will be designed to meet applicable local, state, and federal air-emissions requirements.

The facility will receive biosolids from participating utilities, so truck traffic will be part of the project. One purpose of drying biosolids is to reduce their volume and weight, which can reduce transportation needs for final disposal. Traffic planning and routing will be evaluated as the project advances.

Project costs, financing options, regional participation, and potential impacts on rates will be evaluated as design and planning continue. PWD will share information about costs and funding as it becomes available.

PWD will post project updates, meeting notices, documents, and opportunities for public input on this page.