Portland Water District promotes Maine legacy with bottle-filling stations

This is an excerpt from an article in the January/February 2025 issue of Journal AWWA written by Michelle Clements, communications and public relations director with Portland Water District and a member of the Public Affairs Council.

Train travelers arriving at the station in Portland, Maine, between 1932 and 1962 were often greeted by a uniformed worker from the Union Station Spa offering them a cup of pure tap water sourced from nearby Sebago Lake.

Famous crooner and bandleader Rudy Vallee (a mega-star of his day) described it as the most memorable greeting he ever received. “Best welcome I ever got in any city, and I have been all over the United States,” he said, not long after the spa opened.

Although Portland’s Union Station was torn down in the 1960s and most visitors now arrive via the Portland International Jetport, the tradition continues. One of the first things arriving travelers see is a water bottle-filling station branded with images of fresh, clean water and inspiring messages that encourage a sip and reinforce Maine’s iconic outdoor brand and great-tasting drinking water.

A Water Bottle Filling Station Grant Program was established in 2013 through a partnership between Portland Water District (PWD) and the Portland Jetport. Each year the program offers grants of up to $5,000 for an outdoor water bottle-filling station, $2,000 for indoor ones and $850 for a retrofit unit.

To pilot the program, a branded water bottle-filling station was installed in the airport terminal to promote the region’s pristine tap water and the great state of Maine. Since the initial station, there are now four stations installed near the Jetport’s gate areas where passengers board and deplane.

Promoting great-tasting tap water

Paul Bradbury was director of the Portland Jetport when the first PWD filling station was installed. “We are fortunate to have such exceptional water quality,” he said. “One taste is all that is needed to discourage the use of bottled water. I have spoken to many passengers who appreciate the bottle fill stations and celebrate our water – and the fact that it is unnecessary to buy bottled water at the Jetport.”

A subcommittee of PWD trustees selects recipients based on established criteria, which are then approved by the full board of trustees. To date, PWD has awarded nearly $72,000 in grants to help fund and install 47 water bottle-filling stations throughout its service area. In some cases, recipients added more water stations of their own accord after the first one proved so popular.

PWD trustee Gary Libby of Portland was on the board in 2013 when the program was proposed and adopted.

“That booth from the old Union Station was an inspiration for providing the water bottle-filling stations,” he said. “I supported them as a more modern way to provide water to our PWD customers who are drinking bottled water. Sebago Lake water is less expensive and as good as the plastic bottled water available in stores.”

Grant recipients have included schools, city and town properties, parks, nonprofits and neighborhood associations. One early recipient was the Casco Bay Island Transit Authority, a ferry station located on the Maine State Pier in Portland that helps transport passengers to seven island locations off the coast.

“I thought the fountains would be successful, but not at all to the extent that they have proved to be,” Libby said.