Bucksport pump station failure prompts immediate response

Rupture—adjacent to Hannaford parking lot—was spotted by motorist

A main at Pump Station 2 ruptured on May 13. The depth and location of the rupture was particularly challenging for local repair crews. Photo by Emily Baer.

June 3, 2026

By Emily Baer

BUCKSPORT—A structural failure at Bucksport’s “Pump Station 2,” which sits at the edge of the Hannaford parking lot on Rt. 1, on May 13 exposed the age and condition of the town’s wastewater infrastructure, according to officials from The Maine Water Company during a town council meeting on May 28. Maine Water, as it is known locally, is a private utility company that provides the town’s drinking water.

Officials said a main connected to the pump station ruptured overnight, causing water to erupt near the station and wash out part of the riverbank along the Penobscot River’s Eastern Channel. The station handles more than 90% of the town's wastewater, officials said, pumping it directly to the treatment plant.

Officials said they first received word of the rupture after it was spotted by a motorist from the Eastern Channel bridge that connects Bucksport to Verona Island.

“It was actually a retired utility person [who called],” said Maine Water environmental safety manager Jamie Bowden. ”He looked over and said, 'That doesn't look good.'”

Crews soon discovered that the break was more than 24-feet underground, near the bottom of the 32-foot-deep station. Bowden said the depth of the required excavation, and that buried electrical lines and fluctuating tides made the repair work particularly challenging.

“I've been around a lot of sewer and water infrastructure issues, and this is one of the worst I've seen depth-wise, on a riverbank, and everything else involved,” Bowden said, thanking the work crews who “dropped everything” to help deal with the time-critical situation.

Officials coordinated with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, engineers, and local contractors to evaluate, stabilize, and repair the rupture. Bowden said that initial plans to line the pipe were abandoned after camera inspections showed the damage was more significant than originally thought.

As contractors from Orono-based Sargent Corporation excavated the site, crews battled incoming tidewater. Ultimately, approximately 20 feet of pipe was replaced and a corroded 45-degree elbow joint was identified as the source of the failure.

The problem has been solved, but only temporarily.

“We've put a Band-Aid on, but eventually those Band-Aids are going to stop working,” Bowden said.

“This pump station down there is 40 years old. It's at its useful end of life,” Bowden said. “So it's time to really step up our game [and look] at replacing that pump station and another one at the other end of town as well.”

Despite having a renewed sense of urgency toward much-needed infrastructure upgrades, Bowden said a full replacement will take time.

“If everything was perfect and we received grants next year or [came up] with funding, you're probably realistically looking at three to five years to get this project completed by the time we get engineering and everything,” Bowden said.