PORTLAND (AP) – Shapleigh voters, in a setback for bottler Poland Spring, imposed a six-month moratorium Saturday on the testing or large-scale extraction of water.
Residents voted 204 to 38 to adopt the moratorium, which is intended to give the town time to work on a regulatory ordinance.
Selectmen can extend the moratorium for another six months if an ordinance isn’t done by next March.
“We think the people in Shapleigh want to go really slow when it comes to the water resources there and we respect that,” said Mark Dubois, natural resource manager for Poland Spring.
Dubois said Poland Spring already draws water from eight sites in Maine and the Shapleigh water wasn’t expected to be added to the company’s line until 2011.
Ann Winn-Wentworth, who has been actively opposing the deal, called Saturday’s vote “quite resounding.”
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