March 28, 2024
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Bills aim to protect farmers’ water supply

AUGUSTA – On the heels of a year during which persistent rain shattered 20-year-old records, it may seem odd to propose bills that would ensure enough water for Maine’s farmers.

Agriculture officials say that the protection is necessary in light of rules being considered by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection for water withdrawal.

The rules being considered by the DEP would ban water withdrawal during droughts and set a low-flow limit for Maine waters.

“We haven’t seen the draft of the DEP rules, but we are being proactive,” Jon Olson of the Maine Farm Bureau said Thursday. “If the rules as we believe them are adopted, we need to prevent any future problems.”

Olson said the farm bureau is one of a half-dozen agricultural organizations that support the proposed bills.

The bills’ sponsor, Sen. Carol Weston, R-Waldo, said Thursday that she backed them after being asked to do so by the farm bureau.

“When you think of water extraction, you first think of Nestle and Poland Springs, but we quickly realized that these proposed rules could reach out and touch farmers as well,” she said.

The bills, LR 2860 and LR 2861 would establish the Maine State Agricultural Drought Protection Act, as well as a water source development and management program.

“It just makes sense,” Olson said. “This will ensure that farmers will always have access to water, regardless of the weather.”

LR 2860 would establish a program to protect the rights of farmers for the “wise and reasonable use of water during severe agricultural droughts where those rights may be limited by the establishment of a restricted low-flow limit to protect streams from water quality degradation.”

LR 2861 would create a program to ensure that agricultural producers have access to water for crop and livestock needs, especially during agricultural droughts.

No financial cost has been attached yet to the bills.

Weston said the bills have not been assigned to a specific committee for review yet.


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