New Calais water source faces quality hurdle

CALAIS – Water, water everywhere, but the question is? Is it good enough to drink?

When the City Council adjourned its special meeting Thursday night, the question remained unanswered, as did the issue of how much it will cost to find the answer.

For years, the city has looked for a source to replace the drinking water it now purchases from St. Stephen, New Brunswick. That water has been piped across the Ferry Point Bridge. But a change in U.S. clean water standards has forced Calais to look elsewhere for its water.

Once the city develops its own water source, the councilors learned, the system that connects the two countries will be disabled, and the city will not be able to fall back on its neighbor to the north in case of emergencies.

The city has searched for alternatives and the councilors thought they had found a site at the Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge. But the federal government backed out of a tentative agreement after the city spent more than $300,000 in test wells. Federal officials feared they would set a precedent by allowing the city to take water from federal lands. City officials hope to recoup that money from the federal government.

On Friday, U.S. Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins announced that $500,000 in funding for the city’s new water system has been included in a 2002 Appropriations Bill funding the Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Housing and Urban Development, and other independent federal agencies. Several votes remain, however, before the funding is final.

The next possibility assessed by the councilors involved land next to the Industrial Park that is owned by Larry Mahar. That site was discussed Thursday night. Although the proposed site is not far from the St. Croix River, early tests seem to indicate that the aquifer the city has drilled into is separate from the river.

Hydrogeologist Peter Garrett of Emery and Garrett Groundwater Inc. of Waterville said that a preliminary test well performed well, but that the quality of the water is at issue.

Tests indicated varying levels of iron and manganese that make the water drinkable but not desirable because of smell. He said a system could be installed to filter the water.

More tests must be conducted on water quality to make certain there aren’t any other problems.

Garrett recommended drilling an 8-inch test well that could be used as the city’s backup well if the project on the Mahar site moves forward. The hydrologist recommended that the city move forward with plans to install the more efficient test well in the same general area and pump it for 30 days. He said then the city would have a good measure whether the system could produce enough to meet the requirement of 350,000 gallons per day. It would also give the city a truer measure of the quality of the water and whether it meets federal drinking water standards.

At one point it was believed that the water could be pumped into the city’s water system to help with the summer supply, but because the quality of the water remains at issue, the water will be dumped into a nearby wetland.

Councilor Earl Jensen questioned the hydrologist about the amount of water that could be produced and wondered if the city might have to look at two different sites. Engineer Jim Parker of Civil Engineering Services of Brewer said the systems could be commingled and additional wells could be drilled on site.

“Those wells may each have a little different quality. Probably you would bring them together and either blend them or treat them as separate banks in your filter house depending upon how much variation there is in quality,” Parker said.

Mayor Eric Hinson said that before the city spent money to drill another well, there should be a tentative purchase agreement in place with Mahar.

City officials should know next week how much more it would cost to drill an 8-inch well.

The councilors agreed to meet again Aug. 8.