CASTINE – There should be a little more water available next summer to the village residents of Castine.

The town has won approval from two sources for the funds to build a filtration facility, which will allow the municipal water system to draw water from several ponds to supplement the well system that provides water for most of the residences and businesses in the village section of town.

The town’s water reserves dwindled to dangerously low levels during the height of last summer’s drought, and town officials are concerned that the groundwater supply will not get any significant recharge until late spring or early summer.

With the groundwater levels already low, that could leave the town short of water heading into its busy summer season, which usually begins in July.

The state’s Community Development Block Grant program has awarded the town a $100,000 urgent need grant, according to Town Manager Joe Slocum. The town also has been approved for a low-interest loan to cover the balance of the $350,000 project.

“We’re very appreciative,” Slocum said Tuesday. “This is really a nice way to start the new year. We needed this system. It will benefit Castine and its visitors for a long time to come.”

The plan, Slocum said, is to use the new facility to filter water from several man-made ponds off Battle Avenue. “Those ponds were the historical water source for the town,” he said. “They have not been used since 1994, when we converted to an exclusive well-based system.

“Now we’ll have the wells along with our 100-year-old ponds.”

Since that conversion, the town’s utility board has been searching for alternative water sources around the town and had determined that the best option was to reactivate the ponds. State health regulations, however, require that surface water used for municipal systems must be filtered.

The town already was in the process of looking for filtration systems when last summer’s drought hit. Coastal Maine was one of the hardest-hit sections of the state in terms of lack of rain, and Slocum said town officials watched the water levels carefully throughout the summer and into the fall.

The lack of rain, and the dwindling reserves of water, made developing the filtration system a top priority for the town.

The town’s water department already has tested two filtration systems and chosen one that will work well, Slocum said. An engineer also is working on a design for the building to house the new system.

The town will borrow funds for the project through the Maine Municipal Bond Bank, at what is expected to be an interest rate of slightly under 2 percent, Slocum said. The loan will be repaid through the municipal water rates over the 20-year life of the loan.

Most of the buildings in the village area – including Maine Maritime Academy – rely on the municipal water system. MMA is the largest water user in the town.

Planning for the new facility will continue as the town prepares for construction to start as early as possible in the spring. The town’s goal is to have the system operational before July of this year.