KINGFIELD – Poland Spring Water Co. representative Tom Brennan told residents Tuesday night that preliminary tests indicate Kingfield’s aquifer has the quantity and quality of water necessary for a bottling plant.
Company hydrogeologists recently completed the second in a series of in-depth pump tests this fall to determine whether the town’s underground water source can sustain a plant, he told about 20 people at an informational meeting.
Hydrogeologist Matthew Reynolds of Drumlin Environmental in Portland said the company pumped approximately 360 gallons of water per minute for seven days from one well in September, and approximately 215 gallons per minute from a separate well for 15 days in October. During and after testing, hydrologists measured water levels in Kingfield’s aquifer, in the Carrabassett River, in the town Water District’s pumping zone, and in wells on abutters’ properties. None of the surrounding water sources’ water levels declined enough to cause alarm during the testing, Reynolds said. “We had very little effect at the boundary,” of the property, he added.
Data from the pump test will be shared with the town Water District when Poland Spring files an application to build in Kingfield, Reynolds said.
Springs that bubble up from the ground come from excess water in an aquifer system, Brennan explained in earlier meetings. Although Poland Spring does not pump and bottle water from those types of springs, the company needs to obtain water from the same source as those springs in order to distinguish it as the “spring water” it sells.
Reynolds asserted Tuesday that it is in the company’s own interest to ensure that the volume of water pumped does not negatively effect the spring in question.
Brennan told meeting attendees that, although the company will not invest significant capital into a bottling plant in Kingfield while the possibility of a water extraction tax remains viable in Maine, the company will continue to prepare necessary ingredients for a permit application.
“We can’t commit capital dollars with bricks and mortar with that looming over our head. But we can still do the due diligence and,” he said, “prepare aspects to give us what we need to compile permit applications.”
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