BANGOR, Maine — The Bangor Public Works Department has been busy this year, finding 13 sinkholes this year alone. While this is a normal part of a historical city, experts often look to the city's history underneath the streets to find the cause.
According to Bangor Public Works Director Aaron Huotari, sinkholes are often caused by "broken infrastructure, like a leaky water pipe or sewer pipe [that] will allow water to get into the soil, soften, and start looking for a way out."
That happens mostly during the spring when the snow melts or spring rain softens the ground. Although there have been six urgent and seven minor sinkholes in 2023, that is much less than last year.
In 2022, there was a total of 39 sinkholes; 29 urgent and 10 minor.
That broken infrastructure at times leads to the historical pipes underneath the city that have been in service since the same time as the founding of Bangor.
"There's some piping down there that dates back to the Civil War era," Bangor Historical Society Curator Matt Bishop said.
Bishop said that although he does not have records of an official date, the city's sewage system was likely installed around the same time as the public water system in the late 1800s.
"You have the old logs, that were bored out with the lead-lined pipe in it," Bishop added.
Fast forward to today, city experts are now able to use modern-day technology to respond to sinkholes.
"We come back to our mapping and we go, 'Well, what's underground?'" city engineer John Theiault said.
Since 2015, Theiault and his team have been working to map and record 10 percent of the city's underground sewer lines each year. Currently, they have video recordings of around 60 percent of the city, but the rest have yet to be assessed.
If you come across a sinkhole, you can report it to the Bangor Public Works Department by calling 207-992-4500.