Service Area

Landscaping & site work in Windham, Maine.

Windham has more than 30 significant waterbodies, and it is one of seven towns on Sebago Lake, the drinking-water source for about a fifth of Maine. Highland Lake, Little Sebago, Forest Lake, Chaffin and Pettingill ponds are here too, along with the Pleasant River and the Presumpscot on the town line. Villages run from South Windham and Windham Center to the commercial hub at North Windham on Route 302.

About 18,400 people live in Windham, the median home was built in 1985, and 85% are owner-occupied. Much of the work here is new construction on open land — and nearly all of it happens on septic.

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Windham at a glance

Water bodies: Sebago Lake, Highland Lake (623 acres), Little Sebago, Forest Lake, Pleasant River, Presumpscot River
Sewer: The town relies on septic; sewer historically only in South Windham, with a North Windham sewer under construction
Water: Portland Water District public water; large sand-and-gravel aquifers near Little Sebago
Housing: Median home built 1985; ~85% owner-occupied
Hardiness zone: 5b (2023 USDA map)
Stormwater: MS4 community; erosion-control rules for construction

Protecting the lakes you live beside

Highland Lake was listed as impaired for water clarity from 1990 to 2010 and has seen recent picocyanobacteria blooms. The Pleasant River is listed as impaired for E. coli and low dissolved oxygen, with bank erosion a stated concern, and it is the only southern Maine home of the brook floater, a state-threatened mussel. Forest Lake is on the state's most-at-risk list. Soil and fertilizer that wash off a yard end up in those waters.

Maine's shoreland rules apply within 250 feet of these lakes and rivers: no cleared opening over 250 square feet in the buffer and tree removal limited to 40% of volume in ten years. The Portland Water District runs a Lakescaping program and staff for Windham landowners. Lake-lot work here means stone paths that stay under the width limits, infiltration instead of runoff, and plantings that hold the bank.

Septic, aquifers and new construction

Windham's comprehensive plan is blunt: the town relies on septic systems. It also identifies the aquifer around Little Sebago as the largest mapped high-yield aquifer in southern Maine and notes rising nitrate levels in North Windham groundwater linked to septic systems. A properly designed and installed system matters here more than most places.

Windham is an MS4 stormwater community, its construction ordinance requires erosion-control best practices, and the town strongly encourages DEP-certified excavation contractors. Every house site, driveway and septic install starts with silt fence and a plan for stabilizing the ground as soon as the digging is done.

Lawns inland

Windham sits in zone 5b on the 2023 USDA map. Much of the inland ground is sandy and drains fast, where UMaine Extension points to fine fescues that tolerate dry, acidic, low-fertility soil. Seed between mid-August and mid-September, and near the lakes keep fertilizer phosphorus-free unless a soil test says otherwise. The Maine Forest Service lists Windham inside its quarantines for emerald ash borer, hemlock woolly adelgid and spongy moth.

What we do in Windham