The image here is of a temporary hypochlorite plant at Hinckley Brook showing the Sebago Lake gate house and intake in the background.

In 1908 the Portland Water District was formed to take over the public water supply operations from the Portland Water Company. One of the primary goals of the Portland Water District was to insure the quality of water from Sebago Lake to the communities it served.

The Portland Water District constructed its own laboratory to test for bacteria and pollutants that might spread diseases such as typhoid fever which was attributed to both water and milk supplies during the 1910s. As an added precaution, the Portland Water District began to acquire land surrounding the Sebago Lake pipeline intake.

On this land, the Portland Water District established three hypochlorite plants at three different points on Sebago Lake so that the water could be chemically treated from the source of intake. Hinckley Brook was a tributary for Sebago Lake near the point of intake and for that reason was chosen as a location for a hypochlorite plant.