HARRISON – Brian Pullen asked selectmen Wednesday for their help in protecting Summit Spring, on Summit Hill Road.

Pullen called the spring, which he purchased two months ago, “a very precious resource that needs to be protected.”

Pullen is concerned about the safety of the spring because it is only 10 feet from the rock wall that marks the edge of his property. He told selectmen that a neighbor dumps horse manure near the rock wall, putting the spring at risk from coliform bacteria. Pullen has asked the neighbor to dump elsewhere and even offered to move the manure himself, but his neighbor will not discuss the matter with him.

Pullen told selectmen that the spring has tested positive for coliform bacteria in the past. He feels that the best way to protect the spring is to issue a wellhead protection ordinance extending 300 feet around the spring.

Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Pullen said, it has become a federal offense to tamper with a public water system. The spring, which releases 55,000 gallons of water a day, qualifies as a public water system because it provides water to more than 30 people. The water was bottled and sold by a previous owner for 13 years.

Susan Searles-Gazza, chairman of the selectmen, advised Pullen to contact the Department of Environmental Protection and the Portland Water District. Town Manager Michael Thorne will also research the issue. An ordinance to protect the spring would have to be voted on by residents at a special town meeting, after a public hearing on the matter.

In other business, Thorne presented selectmen with a rewritten curfew ordinance for the town. Thorne’s proposed ordinance, based on the ordinance in Bridgton, would restrict minors from being on the streets between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m.

Selectman Donald Wooley called the hours “kind of lenient,” and proposed an earlier curfew of 9 p.m. “What reason do they have to be out that late?” he asked.

Wooley made a motion to amend the proposed ordinance to set the curfew at 9 p.m. during Eastern Standard Time and 10 p.m. during daylight-saving time. The motion passed, with Searles-Gazza opposed.

No date has been set for a special town meeting to enact the curfew ordinance.