OXFORD – The state has told the owner of Robinson Manufacturing Co. property that he has until June 22 to stop wastewater flow to the treatment plant.

Electrical power was shut off to the former woolen mill on June 2, resulting in the shutdown of the wastewater treatment plant that services an eight-unit apartment complex in the village area and the Town Hall on Pleasant Street. Wastewater has been manually pumped to the facility since that time but can not be treated without electrical power.

“The state is growing worried of this, too. The power is still off. The effluent is running over the floors in the mill. It will start to smell soon,” Town Manager Michael Chammings said. Chammings said the town of Oxford has also served Robinson with notice of the violation.

According to a letter dated June 7 from the Department of Environmental Protection to Robinson Manufacturing Co. President John C. Robinson, all wastewater influent to the facility must cease by June 22. No additional wastewater, septage or other waste will be allowed to enter or be disposed at the facility until a new license is obtained and power has been restored to the facility. The owner must submit an action plan by June 22 to the state.

Town officials quickly brought in a contractor last week to dig a leaching field on the front lawn of Town Hall, a former school building, and connect its service to existing holding tanks. It is work that the town had planned previously to do, Chammings said.

Chammings said one tenant has relocated from the apartment building that is owned by Robinson. Although it is not the intent of the town to displace homeowners, Chammings said, “The state of Maine will not allow them to run sewage into a treatment plant that’s not running.”

Brian Kavanah, director of the Division of Water Quality Management for the Bureau of Land and Water Quality, said one of his staff visited the site the day after the electrical power was shut down on June 2 and found conditions “unacceptable.”

According to a letter dated June 7, Kavanah said the staffer saw wastewater overflowing the pump station wet well at the south end of the facility, running over the floor and entering a floor drain.

Kavanah said the overflow is being contained within the facility and being manually pumped into the treatment facility. But, he said, without power there is no ability to adequately treat the incoming wastewater. He said manually pumping wastewater is “prone to failure” for a variety of reasons and should only be used on a short term basis.

The company does not have a license to discharge wastewater, said Kavanah in his letter, but the state has told Robinson it is willing to withhold enforcement action for a short period if he meets certain conditions including stopping the wastewater influx to the facility by June 22.