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Risk of losing a water filtration waiver is in question, after the city of Lewiston files a lawsuit against the Auburn Water District on Thursday in Androscoggin County Superior Court.
Lake Auburn is the public water supply for portions of Lewiston, Auburn and Poland.
The suit comes after Lewiston officials made a request in March asking Auburn Water District and Auburn Watershed Protection Commission to adopt a moratorium; fearing that future development in the watershed could pose a significant threat to upholding the quality of the water. The request has since gone unanswered.
According to the lawsuit, on June 29, 1993, Lewiston, Auburn Water District (AWD) and Turner entered an Interlocal Agreement for Lake Auburn Watershed Protection. The basic agreement of which constitutes that Lake Auburn will be kept clean, assuring that water entering the lake is protected by a “… well-managed watershed.”
Federal law requires that all drinking water be filtered. In 1991 when the law was enacted, the filtration plant that would have been used then would have cost between an estimated $20 million and $24 million with annual operating costs projected at $1.5 million to $2 million, according to the suit.
RELATED: Lewiston, Auburn mayors at odds over recent zoning change
The dispute is centered around Auburn’s developmental ambitions for the watershed. Due to the newly approved rezoning ordinance which allows for approximately 148-acre parcel facing rezoning as well as an approved altercation to the “septic system design standard.”
All of which Lewiston officials are concerned with because there could be a great threat leading to further contamination of the lake.
“We are worried about the increased run-off should development and site work occur,” Lewiston Mayor Carl Sheline said in a statement. “I hope that this dispute can be resolved in that spirit. Until then, Lewiston will fight to ensure that all of us who get our drinking water from Lake Auburn will continue to get clean water.”
Mayor of Auburn, Jason Levesque, said studies prove their development plans are sound.
“Look at science commissioned very thorough studies that have been available now in public for anyone including Lewiston to read,” Levesque said. “Putting everything together and then analyzing the data. And they've actually approved the recommendations that are laid out in this study based upon modern science, because they know what we're trying to do is protect and enhance the quality of the lake."
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