Madawaska must stop dumping snow in river

MADAWASKA – It’s a tough time to have to look for a place to dump snow when’s there’s already more snow on the ground than you know what to do with, but that’s what the town of Madawaska has to do.

Hit with more than 4 feet of snow since Christmas, the town has been dumping it along the St. John River. That’s illegal, and it was caught – by a Canadian reporter.

The reporter saw the snow pile from Edmundston, New Brunswick, and called the Public Works garage in Madawaska. He was told the town was dumping it there. The reporter then called the Maine Department of Environmental Protection at Presque Isle to check on the practice.

“We got a call from a Canadian reporter, and then a letter from the DEP,” Linda Cyr, acting town manager at Madawaska, said Tuesday afternoon.

Bill Sheehan, an environmental specialist in water quality division office of the DEP at Presque Isle, said he also received a call from a Canadian reporter about the snow pile at Madawaska.

“The town didn’t deny it,” Sheehan said Tuesday. “The town has been cooperative.

“It’s not a big problem, and we and the town are working to address it,” Sheehan said. “It’s probably one of a dozen such incidents in the last five years.”

Snow dumps need fences to delineate a recovery area along a waterway, and the pile must be at least 25 to 75 feet away from the water line, depending on the size of the watershed.

Sheehan said the fenced-in area works like a recovery area for salt, sand and other debris in the snow. The trash and junk is usually not evident until snow melt in the spring.

Towns also need to clean up the areas in the spring.

Sheehan said it has been illegal for municipalities to dump snow in rivers since 1988.

“I realize it’s a tough time of the year to put in snow fences and create area,” Sheehan said. “The town needs to do something, and they are cooperating.”

Sheehan said there is no penalty involved with the recent incident, but if the matter is not addressed, he would find a way to encourage the town.

The DEP is asking the town for proposals, what it wants to do, and where it wants to go with its snow. Sheehan said it’s not an uncommon problem, and the DEP works with the town because its goal is compliance.

Sheehan has contacted Yves Lizotte, Public Works director for Madawaska asking him to work on the issue. He said the DEP also understands the realities of northern Maine winters.

Madawaska has been asked for action as soon as possible.