Boothbay Harbor Sewer District (BHSD) welcomed a new addition with Sean Boyd becoming superintendent earlier this month. Former superintendent Chris Higgins has been acting as operator-in-charge since May, following the departure of David Pratt.    

Boyd is no stranger to the Boothbay area, having been a senior research associate at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences since 2021. His job mainly focused on creating nutrient profiles for water samples for the lab’s clients in the region and worldwide. This included assisting in water collections for Boothbay Region Water District’s (BRWD) watershed testing.  

“I see the sewer treatment (as) part of that, making sure that what we take out, contaminate, and use goes back into the environment as clean as possible,” he said. 

The Nova Scotia native holds a bachelor's of science in aquaculture from Dalhousie University in Canada, and a master’s of science in ecology and evolution from New Jersey’s Rutgers University. He spent 20 years working in and out of the U.S., eventually gaining U.S. citizenship, and settling down in East Boothbay with wife Rachel.  

However, despite his familiarity with pumps and tanks from aquaculture facilities, this is the first time Boyd has worked in sewer treatment. It’s been an enjoyable experience learning the behind-the-scenes operations, he said.   

“There's a lot of processes that go on day to day that make the water clean before we can put it back in. It's not just going overboard. We think about it, and we care about it, and we're testing for different parameters all the time.” 

This means not only ensuring BHSD’s operations are in line with their permits but also being “good stewards” of the local environment, so people can continue to enjoy it, he said. 

As reported in the Register, the treatment procedure starts with raw sewage going through screenings to filter out unwanted objects, from large obstructions to finer materials, such as dirt, grit and eggshells. Next, it goes to the treatment tanks, which complete several processes over multiple hours to aerate. The mixture then moves to a specialized treatment tank to be disinfected before it’s discharged back into the ocean. This occurs about every two hours. 

“(It's) all interconnected to make ... one big happy plant.”

Boyd hopes to use the connections he’s built at Bigelow and BRWD to support the sewer district with upcoming projects and collaborations.