Posted on February 16, 2026
SACO (WGME) — The city of Saco is gearing up for a major dredging project to help the harbor and area beaches.
Dredging operations will begin in Saco in the coming weeks, moving sand from the Saco River to Camp Ellis Beach.
Winter storms have washed away the beach before, most recently in January of 2024.
York County Emergency Management officials say the flooding caused more than $110 million in damage to protective dunes and beaches across coastal York County.
“I believe 36 homes have been lost in the past 40 years or so, that’s a lot of property and a lot of value,” Saco resident Mark Bourassa said.
The project for Camp Ellis Beach in Saco includes transporting sand through a pipeline that’s a little less than a mile long.
The goal is to repair the beach and make it more resilient to future storms.
“We are going to move 1,200 cubic yards of sand through a FEMA grant to the beach. Then the city is moving an additional 6,000 cubic yards of sand, so all of that will happen in a two week time frame and they are going to be working 24/7,” Saco’s communication director Andrew Dickinson said.
Moving the 1,200 cubic yards of sand is going to cost $660,000.
FEMA, the federal government, will cover 70% of the cost while the county and city will pay the rest.
The city of Saco is gearing up for a major dredging project to help the harbor and area beaches.
Moving the additional 6,000 cubic yards of sand will cost $300,000, the city of Saco will cover the full amount.
“I think the fact that we have a dredge at our disposal will enable us to do sand renourishments when we need them. If the erosion happens at a faster rate than anticipated, we should be able to get the dredge back here to get more sand for us,” vice president of “Save Our Shore” and Saco resident David Plavin said.
The project will start at the beginning of March and will run for two weeks.
