BETHEL — Nine old heating oil tanks are being replaced in well-head protection zones to protect the water as part of a Maine Department of Environmental Protection project.
The work on North Road and side roads in the area is being completed by L.M. Longley & Son of Norway at no cost to homeowners.
DEP spokeswoman Samantha Depoy-Warren said funding is coming from the state’s Ground Water Oil Clean-up Fund.
She said the program saves people’s wells and can save a lot of money over time. “The DEP receives nearly 3,000 spill calls per year, with more than one a day coming from a residential home heating oil tank,” Depoy-Warren said. Cleanup of leaking oil tanks costs Maine taxpayers around $2 million per year.
“In addition to a costly clean-up and fuel replacement, releases from home heating oil tanks can contaminate drinking water, degrade air quality, lead to lower property values and harm the environment,” Depoy-Warren said.
Joe Newbert, head technician at L.M. Longley & Son, said he estimates replacing the nine tanks will cost about $40,000, including labor. Some tanks require more work than others; many require pouring concrete slabs and at a Gibson Road home Newbert recently needed a carpenter to cut out part of a wood floor.
The tanks are being replaced with double-walled tanks. Exterior tanks are replaced with fiberglass tanks, and indoor tanks are replaced with high-tech Roth tanks, a double-walled tank with an indicator that shows if the inner tank is leaking.
Newbert said L.M. Longley & Son beat Brooks Bros. of Bethel in the bidding process.
According to Depoy-Warren, Lucian Roberge of the Bethel Water District initially contacted the DEP, leading to Bethel being chosen for the project. Tanks in Scarborough are also being replaced.
Depoy-Warren recommended homeowners have their oil company test their tank’s thickness annually. She said they corrode over time, but because they corrode from the inside out homeowners often aren’t aware until a catastrophic failure occurs and their basements or yards are flooded with heating oil.
“For so many of us, the only time we give our oil tanks any real thought is when we’re paying to fill them,” Depoy-Warren said. “The DEP wants to bring people’s awareness to their tanks and what may be happening inside of them before it’s too late.”
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- Fuel from an old oil tank, right, is pumped into a newly-installed, double-walled fiberglass tank at a home on North Road in Bethel in Friday. L.M. Longley & Son of Norway installed the tank and several others as part of a state Department of Environmental Protection project to protect the Androscoggin River watershed from contamination.
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