By Emma Bouthillette 

Staff Writer

During the Nov. 4 election, 68 percent of Wells voters voted to enact a 180-day moratorium on all water extraction activities allowing time to develop a town ordinance in regard to water extraction.

After residents expressed concerns about discussions between Nestlé water subsidiary Poland Spring and Kennebunk, Kennebunkport and Wells Water District in regard to a proposed contract allowing the company to test and extract water for bottling from the Branch Brook watershed originating near Sanford Regional Airport and running along the Kennebunk and Wells town line, the proposed contract was tabled by water district trustees July 17. 

Since tabling the contract, the district met several times and said they had no intention of revisiting the negotiations for at least six months, according to District Superintendent Norm Labbe.

Nevertheless, Labbe said he is not surprised about the outcome of the vote.

“We are looking forward to working with residents to develop a water extraction ordinance,” Labbe said. “I’m hoping the ordinance will strike a balance between residents concerns, environmental sustainability of Branch Brook and fiscal responsibility to taxpayers of the town and customers of the district.”

In the wake of the decision by Wells residents to enact a moratorium, Nestlé Natural Resource Manager Thomas Brennan said the moratorium will delay anything that may happen, but since the water district trustees agreed to table further discussions Poland Springs could not take action to extract water until the district decided otherwise.

“Unfortunately there is a strong drive by a group of activists going around to a number of different communities getting moratoriums in place,” Brennan said. “Our business is under assault by these groups. They are campaigning on misinformation and fear with the specific goal to stop us.”

Prior to the election, residents in Kennebunk, Kennebunkport and Wells continued to express concern about potential water extraction by the company. Residents formed groups, such as Save Our Water and Defending Water in Maine, have organized many local events to educate their community about the social, political and ecological implications of large-scale water extraction are pleased with the vote supporting the moratorium, said Defending Water for Life Coordinator Emily Posner in a Nov. 5 press release.

“The people of Wells have practiced their civic responsibility. The Defending Water for Life Campaign salutes Wells residents and Save Our Water for their efforts to protect their water,” Posner said.

Defending Water for Life is an organization working to keep water in the public sphere and put the community at the center of the decision making process, and Posner said the moratorium halts any action and will allow time for the water district to work with residents in making a decision.

Though the moratorium has been approved, those against water extraction in the area plan to continue their public educational efforts. 

“There is a virulent strain of optimism among activists as community after community has resisted Nestle.  There is definitely a movement ‘bubbling up’ around the state to protect groundwater resources from corporate exploitation,” Save Our Water organizer Jamilla El-Shafei said in a Nov. 6 press release. “However, our work has just begun and we are in this fight for the long haul. The battle to save our water is just one front of a larger fight, not just to protect our water, but also to take back our democracy. It is about having local democratic control of our water resources, not handing over control of our resources to a corporation who answers to stock holders not to the community which is affected by their water mining practice.”