DEAR SUN SPOTS: Recently I was driving by Lake Auburn on Route 4. There is a turnout where you can park by the lake and just enjoy it. I saw three large water trucks getting water (the type that fill pools, etc.).

My question is: Do they have permission to take water and do they pay for it? They charge quite a lot to fill a pool Thanks. — Gail, Katzmaine@hotmail.com

ANSWER: For an answer, Sun Spots once again turned to Auburn Water District Superintendent John Storer, who said he gets a fair number of inquiries about this issue. He wrote:

“The Lake Auburn Watershed Protection Commission developed a set of water withdrawal regulations back in 2007 to address the issue of tanker trucks withdrawing water from Lake Auburn.

“LAWPC was formed in 1993 as a cooperative effort of the Auburn Water District and the Lewiston Water Division to share resources and help protect the water supply for the two cities. As such, LAWPC worked to ensure Lake Auburn is adequately protected.

“LAWPC’s main concern was whether tanker trucks could have any effect on the watershed, or on the purity of the water within Lake Auburn. Specific concern was that tanker trucks could not inadvertently contaminate Lake Auburn with any improper chemicals, invasive species and/or materials.

“To summarize the water withdrawal regulations, the trucks must register annually for a water withdrawal certificate, which allows our staff to inspect the trucks to make sure they are properly maintained and don’t pose a risk to the water supply.

“The registration fee is $25, and throughout the year the trucks track how much water they withdraw and there is a fee of 30 cents per 1,000 gallons of water. The fee may not seem like much, but it was based on calculations of how much money LAWPC spends on watershed protection, testing and monitoring of the supply. It seemed to be a fair and accurate method for assessing a withdrawal fee.

“People are always surprised at how cheap the water is. It’s actually the cost of delivery that people pay for. For example, the average Auburn Water District customer can get almost three gallons of water delivered to their faucet at a cost of only 1 penny.

“The cost charged to Water District customers has to cover expenses for watershed protection, lab monitoring, testing, pumping, treatment, storage, distribution, metering, billing, etc. There is a massive network of infrastructure to get the water treated and delivered to people’s homes and businesses, and we can do all that at a cost of three gallons per 1 cent.

“So the cost for trucks to take water directly from Lake Auburn is much, much less. I’m not sure what people are paying to have their pools filled, but their cost is going to be for the transport of the water. That would likely include the cost of the truck, the fuel, insurance, driver wages, etc. The actual water cost is very, very small.

“For information purposes, in 2012 the water systems of Lewiston and Auburn delivered more than 2.5 billion gallons of water to customers. We estimate the combined withdrawal of all the tanker trucks might be a total of 2 to 3 million gallons per year. Another way to look at the volume of water the trucks withdraw annually is that it would match what the cities of Lewiston and Auburn might use in a typical eight-hour time period. So the withdrawal volume impact is rather negligible.

“One final bit of information is that the turnout along Route 4 is maintained by the Department of Transportation. LAWPC does not have control over public access at that location. So unless the trucks pose a direct contamination threat to the lake, there is no reason to deny access of withdrawal of the water. Obviously things could change if there was a severe drought, but that is something LAWPC staff monitors on a daily basis. We’ve actually found the tanker truck companies to be very cooperative and diligent in working to ensure there are no threats to the lake.

“Hope this helps! Appreciate you getting word out to people.”

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