AUBURN – A federally approved campaign to safeguard Lewiston-Auburn’s water supply by shooting gulls in hopes of averting a spike in Lake Auburn’s fecal coliform bacteria levels has been hailed as a success.

Water district statistics show that coliform levels during last year’s gull cull were well below levels found the previous fall when flocks of ring-billed gulls landed at the lake during their annual migration from their summer breeding grounds in Canada.

Gunners are expected to be on hand when the birds return next November, with officials suggesting that the expense of the campaign, pegged at around $17,000, pales in comparison with the $40 million it would cost to build a filtration system.

The gulls began arriving at the lake in 2003, and tests conducted the following year showed an alarming jump in coliform levels. On Nov. 30, 2004, the count reached 178; the federal standard for public drinking water sets a maximum allowable level of 20.

The counts never approached the 178 last fall, with the highest level measured at 53 on Nov. 23.

That was the third day that gulls were being shot by marksmen with special federal licenses hired under contract by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The overall toll was about 200 gulls.

In response to the shooters on the lake, the flocks began to thin out as gulls got the message and began setting down elsewhere. But not everyone was delighted.

“We started getting calls from people on North River Road and near Taylor Pond,” said Norm Lamie, superintendent of Auburn’s water district.