Making do Maine schools contending with drought while officials work to secure funding for wells

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The drinking fountain covered in plastic wrap in the front hallway was the first sign that something was amiss at the Exeter School.

The small elementary school near Dexter is one of 11 schools statewide to have lost its water supply or have it drastically reduced due to the continuing drought.

The Exeter School’s 600-foot-deep well went dry last fall. Since then a minimal supply of water has returned, just enough to allow the school’s toilets to be flushed. All water that is to be used for human consumption is brought in daily in large plastic jugs from other schools in SAD 46.

The school district recently signed a contract with a local company to dig another well in a corner of the schoolyard. Depending on how deep the new well has to be, it could cost up to $10,000.

“Every unexpected expense is a hardship on the budget,” said Superintendent Lester Butler.

The money for the well will come out of the district’s capital outlay budget. That means that other projects on the list will simply have to wait, Butler said.

In the meantime, the 54 pupils and faculty at the single-story, white clapboard school are making do with water from other sources.

Rather than use plastic trays and plates and metal utensils that must be washed, the school now serves lunch on paper plates with plastic utensils.

Signs above the sinks in the school’s two bathrooms remind pupils that the water coming out of the tap is for washing hands, not for drinking.

Rather than lining up at the drinking fountain, thirsty pupils fill plastic bottles and paper cups from a bottled-water dispenser. Every pupil in the third-, fourth- and fifth-grade classrooms now keeps a container of water on his or her desk. In fact, one administrator said, pupils are drinking more and, hence, using the bathroom more than before the well went dry.

The Exeter School is not alone in its woes. According to figures from the Maine Department of Education, 10 other schools have had to dig new wells or make improvements to existing ones because of drought conditions.

The schools, which the department believes serve about 3,600 pupils, are generally clustered in three areas – in central Maine, southern Maine and in the western part of the state.

One of the hardest hit is Telstar Middle School in Bethel. The school, which serves more than 270 pupils, is facing a $410,000 price tag to connect to the town water supply a mile away.

Three times last year, the school had to dismiss pupils early when its three wells ran out of water, said Superintendent Kent Rosberg. The problem was especially acute during the winter when sporting events were held indoors. The school has considered curtailing such activities, but hasn’t been forced to do so yet.

A monitoring system has been installed to keep tabs on water levels in the wells, which are each about 1,000 feet deep. When the levels get low, the school tries to minimize use.

“It’s a constant headache,” said Rosberg.

To remedy the problem voters in the five towns that make up SAD 44 will be asked June 11 to approve a bond issue. While the expense is a large one for a school district with an $8 million annual budget, laying the new lines offers the best permanent solution, Rosberg said.

“There’s no sense having the best reading and writing programs in the world if the kids can’t come to school and use water,” he said.

Schools in Albion and Buxton need to drill new wells, while those in Parkman, Hollis, Turner and Sumner already have done so.

The well at the Carroll McKusick Elementary School in Parkman ran dry five days before school started last fall. Water was briefly trucked in from another school before a well driller could arrive.

The school’s old well was 220 feet deep and drew water at a rate of 25 gallons per minute, said SAD 4 (Guilford area) maintenance director Mike Dexter. The new well, which was only about 100 feet away from the old one, had to be dug 540 feet deep and only draws 3 gallons per minute.

Dexter said he constantly monitors the amount of water in the well to ensure that it is adequate.

The new well cost about $10,000 to drill.

Dexter said he got more grief than help from the state in trying to alleviate the situation. Rather than providing money to help offset the unexpected cost, Dexter said, the state was upset that the school did not obtain a permit to drill a new well.

Last year was the driest ever recorded in Maine. The state received only 29 inches of precipitation, 2 inches less than the previous driest year on record, which was 1965. Records have been kept for 107 years.

Not much snow fell this winter, so lakes and ponds that were already low are continuing to drop.

This has some school administrators warily keeping an eye on the future.

There hasn’t been much trouble with low water since last fall at the Marion C. Cook Elementary School in LaGrange. But Superintendent David Walker says he keeps his fingers – and toes – crossed in hopes that the situation won’t get worse.