By David Harry

Staff Writer

If a rising tide lifts all boats, it also may lift local governments to prepare for projected sea level increases within the next century.

Last month, councilors in Scarborough joined counterparts in Biddeford and Saco to create a study group funded in part by a state grant to examine the effects of rising ocean levels.

It is called the Sea Level Adaptation Working Group, or SLAWG. The acronym makes officials wince, but the possible effects officials will study could be very costly.

Peter Slovinsky, a marine geologist with the Maine Department of Conservation has presented a scenario that shows possible inundation of dry areas and increased flooding caused by storm tides in the 21^st century. His projections are based on data from the Portland tide gauge that monitors sea activity from a spot on the Maine State Pier in Portland.

Slovinsky’s research is not necessarily new, said Saco City Administrator Rick Michaud and Old Orchard Beach Town Planner Gary Lamb. But the work is the impetus for collaboration between town officials and the state to study how to combat higher sea levels without adversely effect neighboring towns.

Participating towns will contribute a combined $25,000 in money and labor to initiate the study. They also are working with a $25,000 grant obtained from the State Planning Office by Southern Maine Regional Planning Commission.

Lamb said he hopes Old Orchard Beach councilors will consider the issue at the March 15 council meeting. If there is no room on the agenda, he hopes the topic can be taken up next month.

Slovinsky used data since 1912 to project potential inundation that would cover train tracks used by the Amtrak Downeaster, wetlands behind Route 9 between Old Orchard Beach and Scarborough and areas of Higgins Beach.

Tides from storms such as the one that struck Feb. 24 would swamp areas that now stay relatively dry – and flood evacuation routes, Lamb said.

“Go back to the (2007) Patriot’s Day storm – a 2-foot sea level increase would create a high tide typically like that,” Lamb said.

J.T. Lockman, a planning director with the planning commission, said using tide gauge data and state projections is essential as it removes arguments about global warming and climate change.

“No one has said the tide gauge is wrong,” Lockman said.

The planning commission provides economic development, transportation and resource protection planning assistance to towns in York County, helping towns join together to obtain federal and state grants. Because Scarborough is in Cumberland County, the Greater Portland Council of Governments also will help administer the grant, Lockman said.

Biddeford City Manager John Bubier noted the city lacks the open beach areas prevalent in Old Orchard Beach and Saco, but said it was essential to join in the study.

Study results could provide input for any future state road work on Route 9 as it passes the Fortunes Rocks area, Bubier said.

The total effect of what higher sea levels would mean for residential building codes or additional infrastructure such as pumping stations for storm water cannot be determined until the study is completed.

Michaud and Lamb each cited Goosefare Brook at the southern end of Old Orchard Beach as an area where an increase in sea levels could create more residential flooding in the Ocean Park and Kinney Shores areas.

While Lamb sees the possible need for more storm water pumping stations, Michaud said it will be critical to determine where utilities and roads are built.

“If the infrastructure is going to be there in a hundred years, it needs to be in a sustainable place,” he said.

Some solutions cited by Slovinsky to the Scarborough Town Council last month are relatively simple. More sand and more beach grasses to anchor the sand will help. Other remedies could involve adding or widening storm flow culverts, raising roads and requiring homes to have first floors above the tide line in affected areas.

Lockman said the next step is creating a committee of two officials from each participating town and establishing the scope of the study.

Study results will also help determine how and where public money is spent in the future, Bubier said.

“We have a common need here – it makes sense to approach it once instead of four times in four different ways,” Michaud said.

Staff writer David Harry can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 219