AUBURN – Water from an industrial boiler at the Pionite plant got into the plant’s drinking water but did not contaminate the public water supply, officials said Monday.
Pionite Decorative Laminates, a large industrial plant on Pionite Road, notified the Auburn Water District at 9 a.m. Friday that a high-pressure boiler line had breached the internal water supply.
Norm Lamie, superintendent of the Water District, said the problem appeared to be malfunctions in the pressure boiler system and with a check valve.
“They were able to correct the situation, but not before some of the boiler water was introduced into their water supply line. They were able to conduct a flushing of their own internal water lines,” Lamie said.
He said that as a precaution, the water district isolated water mains in the area by closing a valve and initiated hydrant flushing on Pionite and Goldthwaite roads. “We also collected water samples and are sending them to the state health lab for analysis,” Lamie said.
The same 8-inch water main serves two other commercial water district customers, Mid-Maine Waste Action Corp. and New England Feed on Goldthwaite Road.
The district monitored the situation through the weekend.
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