I am writing in response to the people wondering why some of us didn’t want Kennebunk, Kennebunkport and Wells Water District to sign a contract with Poland Spring (a subsidiary of Nestle Corp.).

I went to the meeting at the Unitarian Church last summer where Norm Labbe answered questions about the contract with Poland Spring. Contrary to reports in the paper and editorials, the people at the meeting with questions and concerns were not ‘anti-bottling activists’ bused in from Washington D.C. The average age of the people at the meeting, which turned out to be standing room only, was 50 to 80. The majority of people were long-time upstanding citizens of our community that were concerned that KKW was making a big mistake signing this contract.

The different reasons why the people of the community were against selling our water had a broad range. The reason I went to the meeting is because we have a shallow well on the aquifer. I live on Maguire Road in Kennebunk. There was no study done to identify how many points and shallow wells were on the aquifer or in the vicinity. It is not unreasonable to think that extracting 300,000 gallons of water a day, 365 days a year, would affect these shallow wells. Poland Spring has not extracted water in any community as densely populated as ours. I found it disturbing that the KKW trustees or Norm Labbe hadn’t considered the impact on our wells. Nobody even counted how many of us there were or what type of well we had. I know the number is in the hundreds. Poland Spring talks about the ‘studies’ they have done. The ‘studies’ were done to see how pure the water is and how big the resource is, none were done to see how many families depend on the aquifer for their water. When my husband met with Norm Labbe, Norm said that KKW ‘could’ put in the contract that Poland Spring would be responsible if our well ran dry BUT it would be difficult for us to prove. Isn’t that the clincher?

People that own homes in the Winding Brook development, in Kennebunk (on the edge of Branch Brook) are on this aquifer. They have deed restrictions that state they are not allowed to dig a shallow well on their land (they are not allowed to tap into the aquifer). They either have a point or an artisan well (above the aquifer or below it). Why KKW wanted to allow Poland Spring to extract an average of 300,000 gallons a day and not let people who live here and pay taxes, dig a shallow well for their own consumption I don’t understand. There is no way these 20 home owners would have anywhere near the impact that Poland Spring would have, but it was enough of a concern that the deeds were restricted?

I felt like the contract was very solid in Poland Spring’s favor. If there was a drought, the water table level dropped, or the groundwater was too low, KKW had the power to only stop the extraction for a 24-hour period. The 300,000 gallons was an ‘average’ during a 365 day year. This meant Poland Spring could have extracted twice as much per day in the summer and none in the winter. This would translate to twice as many trucks traveling to Hollis in the summer, contributing to more summer traffic. It would also mean that in the summer, when it’s the driest, and people have problems with low water levels in their wells, the only default measure was to stop the extraction for a 24 hour period. Poland Spring could extract water the following day. There was no recognition that we have a significant population increase in the summer and there is a bigger demand on the water in the summer months.

The number of shallow wells that Poland Spring could dig was not explicit in the contract. Poland Spring was the only entity responsible for keeping track of how much water they extracted out of these wells. Poland Spring talks about the state regulating them. How much oversight does the state really give water extraction? I have never seen the water police. I have never heard of a water extraction violation in Maine. If there has never been a water extraction violation is it because there has never been a violation or is it because no one has ever been caught? In the contract KKW was not allowed to sue Poland Spring. Does that mean if Poland Spring broke the contract there was nothing KKW could do about it?

There were concerns at the meeting about the number of trucks traveling Route 109 and Route 4 carrying water from Sanford to Hollis. People living along these routes were concerned about the high traffic levels. The carbon emissions were also a point of contention. At 300,000 gallons a day, with the average truck holding 9,500 gallons that’s 64 trips in one day. For one year that is 23,360 trips back and forth to Hollis.

There was also a lot of concern at the meeting about the number of plastic bottles that our water would be put into – 300,000 gallons of water, if put in the 7.7 ounce size, is 4,950,000 bottles for an average day of extraction. During a one year period that is 1,825,000,000 plastic bottles.

I called all the KKW trustees, before the meeting. I asked how much money the KKW customers were going to save. Two trustees said they didn’t know, one said $10 a year and another said $20 a year. Whether the price that Poland Spring was paying for the water was going to be adjusted for inflation I don’t know, but $20? Is it worth the risk of drying up people’s points and wells? Is it worth the risk of drying up Branch Brook (and there was risk because Norm Labbe already had a plan outlined to buy water from the Saco River if the Branch Brook water source was ‘no longer available’). How much money would make it worth it? I’m not a customer because I live outside the KKW district, so I have a dug well, like my neighbors; it won’t save me a nickel. If KKW were to sell the water, there is absolutely no benefit to people who have shallow wells and points, only risk.

The final reason I was (and still am) against selling the water in the aquifer is because it was a hundred year iron-clad contract. Nobody can possibly predict weather cycles that far in advance. Do you think scientists out west predicted 50 years ago that they would be in the middle of a 12 year drought right now? It was only five years ago that we had a drought in the summer and there was a two-month wait to have an artisan well drilled. I am grateful that the KKW trustees tabled the contract. I wouldn’t live long enough to see the end of this contract and I believe it would have been irresponsible to give this to future generations.

Lucinda Nieuwkerk

Kennebunk