In
an attempt to save local groundwater supplies, the Scarborough Town Council
voted unanimously May 18 to create 10 new
“aquifer protection districts,” controlling and limiting land use in each area.
The newly protected sand and gravel aquifers are in North Scarborough, between Gorham and County
roads; on both sides of Broadturn Road; off the Haigis Parkway; near Mussey
Road; and in the areas of Pleasant Hill and Black Point roads.
On-site storage of
heating fuel is now limited to 660 gallons in these areas, effectively
outlawing any new gas station within protection district borders. Storage of
other chemicals, including fuel not used for heating or emergency power
generation, is limited to 25 gallons. Properties that now exceed these limits
are “grandfathered,” but may be subject to the new rules if facilities are
renovated, expanded or modified.
“These changes only make sense,” said resident Paul
Porada, who took credit for instigating creation of the new rules by submitting
state aquifer maps to the Comprehensive Plan Implementation Committee “more
than six years ago.”
“Water needs to be clean when it comes out of the ground,
and we also need to think about making sure it’s clean when it comes time for
it to go back into the ground,” he said. “We want to make sure that people with
drinking-water wells like myself, or especially people like my neighbors, who
have shallow, hand-dug wells, are not affected by the development that goes on
around them.”
“This is a small step, but it’s a step in the right
direction,” said Councilor Michael Wood. “West of the turnpike, most, if not
all, of us do rely on wells to draw our domestic water. We should feel
comforted that the town is paying attention to protecting those resources.”
Among additional
restrictions, new building
permits will feature higher standards for home fuel tanks, including a color
requirement on the outside (they must be a “light or white color”) and a
double-lining on the inside. New permits will be denied on any septic system
with a 1,250-gallon tank, or a design capacity of 2,000 gallons per day, until
the owner can prove nitrate concentrations will not exceed 5 mg/L.
Also, any new
construction that triggers a site plan review will also now require submission
of a plan to control and treat stormwater runoff.
Meanwhile, with the
exception of sump pumps, any new floor drain must be registered with the state
and any geothermal heating unit designed to draw more than 2,000 gallons per
day is banned barring proof it will not "adversely impact" either the
quality or the quantity of groundwater.
Finally, any commercial
use of manure or fertilizers must adhere to “best management practices” of the
Department of Agriculture.
“It’s not perfect, what’s being presented,” said Porada.
“But it’s far better than what we haven’t had in place. This ordinance really gets us from nowhere
to someplace where other towns may adopt something very similar to this.”
Wood observed that the
“man-made lines” that set Scarborough apart from its neighbors pass directly
over some of the protection zones. “Aquifers don’t follow our rules,” he said.
In that light, Wood
asked Dan Bacon, the town planner, to send copies of the zoning change to
neighboring communities, particularly Gorham and Westbrook, which appear to
share Scarborough’s largest aquifers. Unless those communities adopt similar
rules, he said, “Our best efforts would go for naught.”
“We can set all this in
motion and be very conscientious about it,” agreed Chairman Judith Roy, “but
the stuff they let go into the aquifers could come into ours.”
Bacon admitted aquifer
sites are “not precise,” given that they are based on existing Maine Geological
Survey maps, and not recent testing.
“For that very reason,
we have a provision for the boundary to be questioned, or challenged and
altered, though additional evidence,” said Town Manager Tom Hall, “because we
acknowledge that the boundaries, as mapped, are approximate.”
However, Bacon noted
that the “burden of proof” is on the property owner. Thus, in many cases, it
may be cheaper for the homeowner to drop a few hundred dollars on mandated
equipment, like sleeved lines and filter protectors, than to survey groundwater
to all lot lines.
At any rate, given
frequent references to the ordinance change as a starting point, there seemed a
strong indication that additional restrictions may be on tap for the future.
“Everything we do when
we do development comes with a price,” Porada told councilors, just prior to
their vote. “Particularly, think about de-icing chemicals applied to the road
base and on properties. That can affect groundwater quality. This ordinance
really doesn’t get to that. It’s something to consider.”
“These are the small steps you do now to save your
tomorrow,” said Councilor Jessica Holbrook.
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