LEWISTON – The sewage treatment plant’s board of directors was informed Friday that the facility violated the plant’s state permit in May.

Lewiston-Auburn Water Pollution Control Authority Superintendent Clayton “Mac” Richardson reported the single violation of the permit, which was issued by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection last year.

The violation was termed an effluent exceedence. In addition, the facility had three occasions where it failed to treat the amount of flow specified in the permit prior to activation of the combined sewer overflow, Richardson said.

The issue, he said, is one where filamentous organisms don’t settle properly in the clarifiers and get swept out of the treatment plant by higher flows.

Richardson also told the board that compost marketing sales were reported to have been up over the 2002 numbers by about 60 percent for May and by about 20 percent for the year.

“We’re running somewhat ahead of last year, especially with public sales. It’s encouraging,” Richardson said. He said there is a lot of compost currently available for sale to the public.

In other business, he informed the board that LAWPCA’s contract for electric power with Maine Power Options is now in place. The board voted May 9 to enter into a contract with the alternative power supply consortium.

Its membership consists of cities, towns, counties and school districts.

Richardson said he expects the authority to save somewhere between $15,000 and $30,000 annually on electric power.