Lincoln Water District
3 Taylor Street
Lincoln Maine 04457
Telephone: 207-794-2921
Fax: 207-794-2985wd1@adelphia.net
Introduction:
We at the Lincoln Water District are once again proud to present our annual water quality report and to inform you that the drinking water that the Lincoln Water District delivered to your home or business met or exceeded all state and federal drinking water standards and requirements. This report includes all testing of your drinking water completed from January through December 2006. You need to know that the federal government requires us to use very specific language in this report that can often be confusing or even alarming to some people. We at the Lincoln Water District continue to be your source of safe drinking water for you and your family.
Where Does Your Water Come From:
Your drinking water supply comes from a ground water aquifer that currently supplies all of the municipal water needs of the town of Lincoln and Howland. The location of the gravel esker aquifer is in the most southerly part of the town of Lincoln and is part of a major glacial stream deposit that extends in a north-south direction. The District operates and maintains 4 gravel packed wells in the aquifer. This water source has been in use since the fall of 1961, and feeds 27 miles of water distribution mains in Lincoln, supplying 129 public fire hydrants, 28 private fire services and 1500 water service connections (customers). The District average daily pumping rate is 800,000 gallons per day (gpd). In the event of a power failure, water pressure and flow would be maintained from two 500,000 gallon standpipes (above ground tanks) located at the top of Pinkham Street and one 500,000 gallon underground concrete tank located off the Transalpine road on fish hill. The water source from the gravel packed wells is pumped directly into the distribution system with no filtration or chemicals added, since the quality of the water is such that disinfection of the source water at the wells is not a requirement. Sodium Hypochlorite is added to our water to protect against bacteriological contaminants during the summer months and high construction activities. The District owns and maintains a healthy forestland that acts as a natural filter to the watershed to ensure the highest quality of water collected in the aquifer. The District continues to manage the forest land and gravel esker caring for almost 600 acres of unspoiled forest land. We limit the amount of recreational use of the watershed for the protection of our drinking water supply. We do what has to be done to protect this irreplaceable resource from threats by managing a number of protection programs to keep the forest and aquifer healthy and safe.
Substances That May Be Found In Drinking Water:
To ensure that Lincoln’s water is safe to drink, the EPA regulates and limits the amount of certain contaminants in water that is provided by the Lincoln Water District system. Drinking water, including bottled water, may reasonably be expected to contain at least small amounts of contaminants. The presents of contaminants does not necessarily indicate that water poses a health risk. The source of drinking water (both tap and bottled water) including rivers, lakes, streams, ponds, reservoirs, springs and wells. As water travels over the surface of the land or through the ground, it dissolves naturally occurring minerals and, in some cases, radioactive material, and can pick up substances resulting from the presence of animals or human activity.
Substances that may be present in source water include (microbial contaminants), such as viruses and bacteria, which may come from sewage treatment plants, septic systems, agricultural livestock operations, and wildlife. (Inorganic contaminants), such as salts and metals, which can be naturally occurring or result from when storm water runoff, industrial or domestic wastewater discharges, oil and gas production, mining or farming, (pesticides and herbicides), which may come from a variety of sources such as agriculture, urban storm water runoff, and residential uses. (Organic chemical contaminants), including synthetic and volatile organic chemicals, which are byproducts of industrial processes and petroleum production, and can also come from gas station, urban storm water runoff, and septic systems. (Radioactive contaminants), which can be naturally occurring or be the result of oil and gas production and mining activates.
Some people may be more vulnerable to contaminants in drinking water than the general population. Immune compromised persons such as persons with cancer undergoing chemotherapy, people who have under gone organ transplants, people with HIV/AIDS or other immune system disorders, some elderly, and infants can be particularly at risk from infections. These people should seek advice about drinking water from their health care providers.
EPA/CDC have guidelines on appropriate means to lessen the risk of infection by cryptos poridium and other microbial contaminants are available from the Safe Drinking Water Hot Line (1-800-426-4791). You may also call the Maine Drinking Water Program (DWP) at (1-207-287-2070.
In 2005, our system was granted a “Synthetic Organics Waver”. This is a three year exemption from the testing / monitoring requirements for pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and other industrial chemicals. This waver was granted due to the absence of these potential sources of contamination within a half mile radius of the water source.
If you have any questions or concerns about this report, or this water utility, please contact Ronald R. Gray, Superintendent, at 1-207-794-2921.
We want our valued customers to be informed about their water utility. If you want to learn more, please attend any of our regularly scheduled Trustee meetings that are held on the second Tuesday of each month at the District office, 3 Taylor Street, at 7:00 pm.
Security Protection:
The Lincoln Water District has increased security throughout the water system. The Water management as well as a quality staff of water professionals that include certified operators and office staff. The District water employees recognize their important responsibility to you and use their professional experience and training to work together to ensure the ongoing quality of the drinking water that is delivered every day to your homes and business.
If you have concerns or see any activity in the South Lincoln wellhead protection area, or anywhere in the distribution system. Please contact the district office or law enforcement (police) immediately, for example, if you see a fire hydrant running chances are we are flushing the mains, but give us a call day or night if you aren’t sure.
We at the Lincoln Water District, Ronald R. Gray, Superintendent, Lynn Sanderson, Clerk, Burton Weed, Chairman, Frederick Haskell, Treasurer, David Emery, Assistant Superintendent, Jeffrey Day, Utility Foreman, Byron Delano Jr., Operations,
Shari Albert, Office Manager, Brenda Chandler, Billing Clerk, work around the clock to provide you with top quality water. We ask that all our customers help us protect our water sources, which is the heart of our Community, our way of life and our children’s future.
Thank you for allowing us to continue providing your family with clean quality water this year. In order to maintain a safe and dependable water supply we sometimes need to make improvements that will benefit all of our customers. These improvements are sometimes reflected as rate structure adjustments.
Please call our office if you have questions, at 207-794-2921 or email us at lwd2@adelphia.net.
Water Test Results
The Lincoln Water District routinely monitors for contaminants in your drinking water according to federal and state laws. The following water tests are the results of our monitoring.
