“Do you favor a $7,000,000 bond issue, which will match $15,000,000 in federal funds, to construct water pollution control facilities, to clean up tire stockpiles and to make drinking water improvements?”

Maine voters have a solid history of backing bond issues for environmental cleanup. Question 2 should be no exception.

Of the $7 million, $4.5 million is for waste water treatment facilites, $500,000 will improve public drinking water and $2 million will continue the effort to rid Maine of its scrap tires.

Even if these projects fell solely upon Maine’s shoulders, they would be necessary. The federal match, the chance to recoup some of those tax dollars sent to Washington, eases the burden.

Since the 1960s, Maine has invested hundreds of millions in waste water plants, one community at a time. This year, it’s Mapleton, where an aging plant pollutes a stream feeding the water supply for Presque Isle. The entire project will cost $3 million to $4 million, with the bond covering $2 million and a loan, repaid with higher Mapleton user fees, making up the difference.

The rest of the water-pollution component, $2.5 million, will match a $12.5 million federal contribution, creating a low-interest revolving loan fund to help comunities separate storm water from waste water, a frequent cause of untreated overflows. Maine has a backlog of about $103 million in overflow projects; the communities to benefit from this first round include Auburn, Augusta, Brewer, Lewiston, Madawaska, Oakland, Presque Isle, Saco and Sanford.

The re-authorized Safe Drinking Water Act requires upgrades to as many as 600 public water systems in Maine. This $500,00 and a $2.5 million federal match start a revolving loan fund for these projects, with Alfred, Eustis, Madawaska, Mount Desert and Boothbay Harbor at the top of the list.

The final $2 million allows Maine to continue its assault on the 50 million scrap tires littering the state. That these mountains of rubber are excellent breeding grounds for mosquitos is bad enough. Worse yet it that they are significant fire hazards, threatening publc safety, air quality and ground water, as a small yet pesky fire last week in Holden demonstrated.

Voters last year raised $5 million to go after the four largest stockpiles and about 1.5 million tires have been chipped and used as fuel or road fill, with several million more soon to follow. The new round of money will go after large stockpiles of 1 million tires or more in Bowdoin, Durham, Greenwood and Meddybemps. Fourteen other communities with smaller piles will be eligible for financial aid through a voluntary program.

These are not glamorous issues, this ballot item has sparked little debate and no organized opposition, but environmental protection is an ongoing task, a shared responsibility voters have accepted in the past and should do so again Nov. 4.