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Biddeford touts 99%+ reduction in CSO discharges; honors Tom Milligan
Summary
Public works staff told the council a 2025 CSO report showed combined sewer overflows dropped from historic totals to roughly 3.6 million gallons last year — a 99%+ reduction — and the council recognized retiring Engineer Emeritus Tom Milligan for decades of service.
Public Works Director Jeff Demers and Engineer Emeritus Tom Milligan presented a combined sewer overflow (CSO) master-plan report to the Biddeford City Council on Aug. 4, highlighting steep reductions in overflow events and volumes.
Tom Milligan recounted how older granite box culverts and legacy drainage contributed to past discharges and described the city's approach — removing catch basins, extending storm drains and separating stormwater from wastewater. Milligan said the city recorded a drop from historically large overflows (reported in the hundreds of millions) to about 3,600,000 gallons in the most recent year, a reduction the presenters characterized as more than 99 percent.
Jeff Demers emphasized the combination of infrastructure projects and grant funding that made the improvements possible. He cited more than $10 million in EPA grant funding and an additional $6 million from Senator Mitchell's office to upgrade the treatment plant, and he pointed to a recent Elm Street project that the presenters said removed about 5,300,000 gallons of overflow.
"When we 1st started this... in 2000, we had 01/1946 [overflows]; this last year, 2025, it was down to 8," Milligan said during the presentation, explaining both event counts and gallon volumes. Demers and Milligan noted the federal and state goal is zero discharges and that achieving it will require further, costly technology and projects.
Councilors thanked Milligan for his decades of service; the council also expressed appreciation for the wastewater team's work and for the city's progress toward meeting Clean Water Act obligations.
