LEWISTON – The news that 2003 was a record year for septic tank waste was no surprise for the directors of the sewage treatment plant Friday, considering that Cumberland County towns have sent their waste here for several months.

A sewage treatment plant in Portland that accepts waste from towns in Cumberland County changed its regulations last summer, prompting several towns to begin shipping the waste to the plant here that’s operated by the Lewiston-Auburn Water Pollution Control Authority.

The result was that records were set for septic tank waste received in each of the last several months of 2003, with the exception of December, which had its third-highest number of gallons received: 80,950.

In other business, Richardson reported that there were no violations of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection permit in December. The maximum flow in the plant was exceeded several times in recent months due to heavy rains.

In another matter, the board congratulated LAWPCA’s Pretreatment and Safety Coordinator Vivian Matkivich for receiving the Alfred E. Peloquin Award. Matkivich will receive the award at the annual conference of the New England Water Environment Association in Boston later this month.

Matkivich will also become the first vice president of the Maine Wastewater Control Association.

LAWPCA employee Phyllis Rand will become vice president of the New England association