Bangor area water safe, district says

BANGOR – In response to a national survey that includes Bangor on a list of small cities that do not test their public drinking water for the presence of pharmaceuticals, the water district’s top official said Monday that consumers here have little to fear.

Kathy Moriarty, general manager of the Bangor Water District, said the city’s water source, Floods Pond in Otis, is so well-protected that it’s next to impossible for it to contain even minute traces of pharmaceuticals. Nonetheless, she said, she has already sent away to a California laboratory for a specialized testing kit and hopes to be able to demonstrate conclusively the lack of pharmaceutical contamination in Floods Pond.

“The risk is incredibly low,” Moriarty said in a telephone interview. “I can’t imagine a water supply that’s better protected against this problem.” The water district owns the entire perimeter of the 635-acre lake. It also owns 99 percent of the watershed that feeds the lake, Moriarty said, including more than 5,600 acres surrounding the lake.

There is no public access to the lake; the only access road is triple-gated. No homes or seasonal cottages are within the watershed, other than an unoccupied house formerly lived in by a water district employee. The house has been vacant for more than five years, its septic tank disconnected and filled in with sand.

With no leaky septic systems, industrial outflow or other wastewater discharging into Floods Pond, and no swimming, boating or fishing activity within its waters, Moriarty said, the chances of any pharmaceutical contamination is extremely low.

Last year, a local teenager working on a high school science project tested several area water bodies for the presence of estrogen, one of the more commonly found pharmaceuticals in water supplies. She used Floods Pond as the “control” water after determining that it was free of the hormonal substance, Moriarty said.

Moriarty, who served as the district’s water quality manager for 15 years before becoming the general manger in November 2006, said she requested the water sample kit from the California lab on Monday morning after hearing about the national survey by The Associated Press. Water from Floods Pond will be tested for about 15 pharmaceutical substances, including caffeine, over-the-counter pain medications, synthetic hormones and antibiotics. It will take about four weeks to get results back, Moriarty said, and the test will cost about $500.

The water from Floods Pond is so clear and well protected, the Bangor Water District is one of only about 60 utilities in the country not required to filter their water at the source, Moriarty said.

At a plant set back from the lakeshore, the water is treated with chloramine, a combination of chlorine and ammonia, to kill off any naturally occurring bacteria and other organisms. Ozone gas is also used to purify the water, and a small amount of fluoride is added to help prevent tooth decay. Voters authorized the fluoridation of Bangor’s water in 1967.

The water is then gravity-fed through 17 miles of pipes into the city of Bangor, where it is stored at a number of sites, including the landmark Thomas Hill Standpipe.

Bangor water is also supplied to homes, businesses and fire hydrants in Hampden, Orrington, Clifton, Eddington, Orono, Veazie and Hermon.

Until 1958, the Bangor Water District used the Penobscot River as its water supply.

Moriarty said water utilities are committed to protecting public health. Before utilities are required to undertake the significant expense of testing and treating for minute traces of pharmaceuticals, she said, scientists should determine the level of risk they pose to human health.

Like all public water utilities, the Bangor Water District publishes an annual water quality report, which is mailed to all customers. The next report will be released in May. More information may be obtained by calling the water district at 947-4516.

mhaskell@bangordailynews.net

990-8291

Editor’s Note: BDN reporter Meg Haskell’s husband is an employee of the Bangor Water District.