By Gillian Graham
Staff Writer
The trustees of the Kennebunk, Kennebunkport and Wells Water District called a July 17 special meeting to consider a recommendation to table further action regarding a proposed contract with Nestle. The meeting was scheduled to take place after the Register went to press.
District Superintendent Norm Labbe said he planned to recommend trustees indefinitely table the proposed contract, which would allow Poland Spring, a subsidiary of Swiss-based Nestle, to draw up to 300 gallons of water per minute from the Wells Blueberry Barrens property along Branch Brook.
Labbe said the district heard from many customers who said they would like more factual information and an opportunity for more input on the proposal.
“It became clear to me that there were concerns out there,” Labbe said. “Clearly it is best to put the brake on it now. There is no hurry, no need to rush.”
Poland Spring wants to pump water from a borehole on the Barrens through a mile-long pipeline to a small storage facility that would be built on Route 109 in Sanford near the airport.
Under the proposed contract, the water district would receive a one-time $250,000 payment prior to extraction. Poland Spring would then pay twice the bulk water rate, with a minimum of $50,000 guaranteed annually. The district estimated the annual revenue to be between $250,000 and $500,000, according to an informational document the district made available to the public.
Save Our Water, a group of area residents concerned about the plan and other water issues, has hosted meetings in Kennebunk since hearing of the proposal. A June 22 meeting drew more than 200 people to listen to Labbe answer questions, Save Our Water organizer Jamilla El-Shafei said.
El-Shafei said she is happy with Labbe’s recommendation, but not convinced this is the end of the story as far as Nestle is concerned. She and other critics are concerned about the impact of the extraction on local water levels and feel Poland Spring offered to pay too little for the water.
“We’re very pleased that Norm came to the conclusion that this is not a good deal,” she said.
The June 22 meeting, she said, “Made everyone in the room skeptical about the process taking place behind closed doors.”
El-Shafei said Save Our Water has a multi-pronged strategy in response to the proposed contract. The group will educate the public about the consequences of mass water bottling in the area and draft ordinances to prevent extracting in Alfred, Sanford, Wells, Kennebunk and Ogunquit. She said the ordinances would be modeled after one adopted in Barnstead, N.H.
Save Our Water meets at 7 p.m. Mondays on the second floor of the Unitarian Universalist Church in Kennebunk and will host special speakers and movie screenings. Author and activist Maude Barlow will speak to the community about water issues and Nestle at 7 p.m. July 20 at York County Community College in Wells. The program is sponsored by Save Our Water and the Defending Water for Life Campaign.
The group is also looking into ordering aluminum water bottles to encourage people to “think outside the bottle,” El-Shafei said.
“We think that as people really think about the issue they will find [bottling water] is not a sustainable practice,” she said. “We will remain vigilant on this issue. We will follow Nestle as close as we can.”
Emily Posner, organizer of Defending Water For Life in Maine, said she heard about the proposed contract through a newspaper article and now supports Save Our Water.
“I have been supporting them in every possible way I can,” she said.
Posner has provided research and introduced Save Our Water members to people who have opposed Poland Spring expansion plans in Fryeburg.
She said the water district should not sign a contract with a multi-national corporation, though she is also concerned about global climate change.
“To sign away even the smallest amount of water is incredible problematic,” she said.
Defending Water For Life in Maine primarily works on educational issues related to the global water crisis.
The group believes water is a natural heritage and part of the public trust, Posner said.
Posner said any body of water in Maine larger than 10 acres is a public trust. Her group advocates all water be part of that trust.
Posner said public reaction to the water district deal is a “fantastic show that people are tremendously concerned about water.”
If approached with a similar contract, Labbe said the district would get more input from customers, perhaps in the form of a survey or referendum.
“From this point, if something like this were to happen we would approach it totally differently,” he said. “I want [customers] to feel comfortable that this situation will not come up at the board level unless the public is fully informed.”