LEWISTON — The Twin Cities’ efforts to protect Lake Auburn’s water quality could be unfair and a burden on most residents, city councilors were told Tuesday.
Dan Bilodeau of Auburn and Doug Stone of Lewiston presented councilors with the draft of a complaint they are considering filing with the state Public Utilities Commission. The draft argues that the Twin Cities watershed protection efforts around Lake Auburn are unfair and it asks the PUC to formally investigate Lake Auburn Watershed Protection Commission.
“We are asking you to work with us and narrow these questions together,” Bilodeau said. “We are asking you to give more concern to the homeowners.”
Bilodeau said he is still evaluating the complaint. The version he presented Tuesday names the City of Lewiston and the Lewiston Water Division in the complaint and he said he’s preparing a duplicate that names the Auburn Water District. The Lewiston Water Department and the Auburn Water District are the main partners in the Lake Auburn Watershed Protection Commission.
Bilodeau said he has not decided if he will file the complaint with the PUC.
“We could do it in a week or we could do it in a year,” Bilodeau said. “That all depends on the reaction we get tonight.”
The draft complaint calls out seven areas where Bilodeau and Stone allege the watershed protection efforts are especially unfair: Requiring septic systems be buried deeply; promoting designs around the watershed that keep water from running into the lake; buying watershed land; removing easements on paths that had been public; not filtering the lake’s water; and restricting swimming and other uses on the lake and surrounding land.
“The question is not about the idea of swimming in the lake, but about reconsidering the overall uses that are allowed,” Bilodeau said. “We are asking for a public review of the use for one of the Maine great ponds, which ultimately belongs to the people of Maine.”
Dave Jones, Lewiston Public Works director and one of Lewiston’s appointees to the watershed commission, defended the commission.
“The fact that our water quality has not declined in years demonstrates that our programs have been successful,” Jones said. “That is the entire goal of the Watershed Commission, to protect that water quality. Remember that it is less expensive to prevent pollution than to go in and clean it up afterward.”
The Lake Auburn watershed includes 9,651 acres ranging from South Hill Road in Buckfield, south past Mount Auburn Avenue. It includes several ponds and streams.
The federal Environmental Protection Agency gave the cities a filtration waiver in 1991, allowing them to avoid having to build a facility to filter drinking water. The cities formed the Lake Auburn Watershed Protection Commission in 1993 to keep quality up and avoid having to build a filtration system.
Jones and Bilodeau disagreed about the cost of building such a system. Jones claimed it could cost more than $20 million, based on a 2006 estimate by engineers Camp Dresser and McKee. Bilodeau said he expects it would cost $4 million, based on discussions with another engineering firm, Wright-Pierce.
He urged councilors to hire Wright-Pierce to put together a cost estimate. Councilors said they would consider it, if the estimate wasn’t expensive.
Stone, who helped write the draft complaint, told councilors he felt the city’s water quality was especially poor and said he knows of three people personally who cannot drink city tap water, use ice cubes made from that water or eat in Lewiston-Auburn restaurants that might use tap water.
When questioned by Mayor Larry Gilbert, Stone refused to identify those people but said he knows there are many more like them.
Councilor Mark Cayer was not convinced.
“I think all we’ve heard here is innuendos,” Cayer said. “I haven’t seen many facts, just heard stories about people made sick ‘but I won’t tell you who.'”
Councilor John Butler said he wasn’t impressed, either.
“My opinion is that if you want to take the next step with this complaint, you should do that,” Butler said. “I think you will lose it.”
Lewiston City Council Workshop Agenda, 9/28/2010: Lake Auburn Watershed Draft Complaint
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