By Jodi Hausen,Staff Writer

WILTON – A whole host of issues could be contributing to coliform and E. coli contamination in wells on Thompson and Bennett streets, according to Jim Crowley, environmental specialist for the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.

Crowley began a septic survey of the neighborhood Monday after he heard several houses there had contaminated drinking water.

Anita Lovell, who lives at 22 Thompson St., said she and her husband have been hauling 20 gallons of drinking water every two weeks from her son’s home in Farmington for more than two years.

“We are the worst,” she said last week about her well water, which contains unhealthy levels of E. coli and coliform.

The Lovells bought Anita’s childhood home from her mother about three years ago and had a new well dug at that time.

“The water hasn’t tasted good for about 30 years,” she said.

They have treated the well with bleach several times and sent water samples to the state lab each time for testing, and each time tests indicated that the unhealthy bacteria levels increased.

For awhile, they stopped using their water altogether. But recently, Lovell said, they started to shower and wash their clothes with it. She boils water on the stove to wash her dishes and never drinks her well water.

They haven’t gotten sick, but her mother, who moved to Village View Apartments recently, had been sick with frequent diarrhea. She had been drinking the water. Though her digestive illness can’t necessarily be traced to the water, her symptoms have cleared up since she moved out, according to Lovell’s brother, Bob Thompson.

Crowley said dug wells, usually shallow at 15 to 20 feet deep, are more susceptible to contamination than drilled wells. Most of the approximately nine affected wells in the neighborhood are dug. Two houses, including a dentist’s office in the area, have drilled wells and do not have contamination issues.

Standing in Calvin Hinkley’s back yard on Thompson Street, Crowley showed the homeowner how his well and several nearby lined up at the lowest point on the properties – a virtual catch basin for storm water. Hinkley, who spends $150 annually on a filtration system, said he only has problems in the spring when the ground is saturated – a fact that seems to confirm Crowley’s beliefs.

A septic tank in another back yard, which Crowley called “a hole in the ground,” may be the issue for that homeowner and possibly also for the Lovells who live downhill and across the street from it.

Crowley said drilling expensive new wells does not guarantee good water and fixing faulty septic systems could also fail to remedy the problem.

“They live in a swamp,” Russ Mathers, superintendent of water and wastewater said last week. “It’s a convoluted mess out there,” he added.

The town has been trying to find money to put the houses on town water – the current line ends about 800 feet from the Lovell house. A $60,000 Community Development Block Grant, with a $20,000 match from the town was approved at town meeting in June, but bids from contractors for the work came in at twice that amount. Town Manager Peter Nielsen said he is seeking a U.S. Department of Agriculture urgent-need grant for the additional costs of the project. In the meantime, the $60,000 block grant has been extended for a year.