The Canton Select Board on Thursday approved a 99-year lease for town-owned land contingent on the success of some aquifer test wells. From left, Selectman and Canton Water District superintendent Shawn Goodrow, Carole Robbins, Chairman Brian Keene, and Michelle Larrivee. Selectwoman Christine Carrigan attended the meeting virtually by Zoom. Marianne Hutchinson/Rumford Falls Times

CANTON — The Select Board approved a 99-year land lease to the Water District during Thursday’s meeting, allowing the district to drill groundwater wells.

In August 2023, Shawn Goodrow, the superintendent of the Water District, asked the board for permission to drill test wells on town-owned property near the Ranger Mill Road off Route 140 to search for aquifers. He said one reason is to try to lower the cost of water for customers. At that time, the board did not approve a lease.

Engineer Rick Pershken from Dirigo Engineering of Fairfield spoke Thursday to help to answer the board’s questions about the process of setting up a well and pump station location for underground water access in the town.

“(The project) would involve basically mothballing that (water district) plant and developing groundwater somewhere down in the in the aquifer that runs down through the Androscoggin River valley here,” he said.

Goodrow has secured a $439,000 state grant for a new pump station to replace the existing Water District treatment plant on Staples Hill Road. He has also applied for a federal grant of $1.25 million to spend on the project, including the installation of approximately 1,200 linear feet of 8-inch water main, according to a project area sketch from Dirigo Engineering.

Selectwoman Christine Carrigan noted that the current operating costs for the Water District “are about $100,000 and the new annual operating costs (for the aquifer project) would be about $90,000.”

Although there would be a $10,000 savings, Carrigan said, “there’s a lot of unknowns; so we hate to go through all these steps and not have any savings.”

Selectwoman Carole Robbins was the first to state that the board should issue the land lease to the Water District. “I don’t see a problem with issuing the lease. I mean, if it doesn’t work for them, it doesn’t work; it’s not going to be any skin off the town’s back if it doesn’t work,” Robbins said, “And if it potentially does work, it’s helping Water District customers.”

Board Chairperson Brian Keene, who approved of the lease, said that his concern was how long it would take to “realize the savings.”

Selectwoman Michelle Larrivee, who had the only dissenting vote, said that she had “… concerns about all the unknowns. We don’t know if it’s going to benefit the ratepayers; we don’t know a lot of things.”

Goodrow abstained from voting when the selectmen approved the lease.

In other business, the selectmen appointed Dawn Everly to the Planning Board. Everly’s term runs until the town elections in June.

The town plans to hold a Wreaths Across America ceremony, a nationwide program to honor and remember veterans, on Dec. 14 at 1 p.m. at Hillside Cemetery on Canton Point Road.

Also, the town plans to show “The Polar Express” at the Historical Society building Dec. 14 at 6 p.m., with donations accepted. Popcorn, cookies and hot chocolate will be available, and children are encouraged to wear their pajamas.