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Shapleigh Voters Turn Down Poland Spring

September 24, 2008 - SHAPLEIGH -- Voters here overwhelmingly adopted a six-month moratorium on testing or large-scale extraction of water in town on Saturday, severely crimping the plans of bottler Poland Spring for a new source of water for bottling in Maine.

At a special town meeting, residents voted 204 to 38 in favor of the moratorium, which is intended to give the town time to work on an ordinance to regulate water testing and large-scale pumping. Selectmen can extend the moratorium for another six months if an ordinance isn't done by next March.

Voters also shot down a proposal for an agreement between the town and Poland Spring that would have given the water bottler access to town land on Mann Road for testing. That proposal was defeated 183-49, averting a confusing situation that could have developed if voters had approved both the moratorium and the agreement with the company.

Mark Dubois, natural resource manager for Poland Spring, said the company understands that residents want to come up with a comprehensive ordinance on water resources, but added that the vote doesn't necessarily mean the company won't continue to pursue Shapleigh's water if that ordinance allows large-scale extraction.

"We think the people in Shapleigh want to go really slow when it comes to the water resources there and we respect that," he said.

Dubois noted that Poland Spring already draws water from eight sites in Maine and the Shapleigh water wasn't expected to be added to the company's line until 2011. The company has enough water to meet demand, he said, which has been slowing as the economy has softened.

He said Poland Spring has been trying to work out a deal for Shapleigh's water since early this year, and "it wasn't anything that was rushed this fall."

Ann Winn-Wentworth, who has been actively opposing the deal, said the Mann Road site is near wildlife preserves that are managed by both Shapleigh and Newfield, where she lives. She said the area contains rare begonias and also attracts butterflies that might have been disturbed by Poland Spring testing procedures and extraction that would have involved large tanker trucks.

Poland Spring had hoped to drill about a dozen test wells to determine whether a 150-acre site could be developed into a new water source. If it could, the company said it wanted to drill wells and a pipeline to a filling station on Route 11. That would require another vote by residents to approve that plan.

Winn-Wentworth said Saturday's vote "was quite resounding," although she is worried that Poland Spring will continue to pursue plans for that area because of all the money the company has already spent on the effort.

By EDWARD D. MURPHY, Staff Writer, Portland Press Herald, September 21, 2008


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