SANGERVILLE, Maine — Sangerville selectmen were asked Thursday why a Willimantic property owner could dump his gray water in the Guilford-Sangerville Sanitary District plant when residents of the two towns could not.

Sangerville resident Irving McNaughton distributed to selectmen copies of a letter from Frank Ruksznis, the sanitary district plant manager, which advised James Rogers of Corinna that he could dump no more than 100 gallons per year of gray water produced at his motor home in Willimantic at the Guilford-Sangerville treat-ment plant.

Gray water is water left behind by dishwashing, laundry and bathing.

The board agreed to forward McNaughton’s concerns to the sanitary district trustees.

Contacted Friday, Ruksznis said it’s a matter to be taken up by the district’s board of directors.

The property Rogers owns in Willimantic is too small to develop for a seasonal or year-round home and the soils are not suitable for any type of septic waste disposal, the Willimantic Planning Board ruled at a recent meeting. That prompted Rogers to find an alternative.

McNaughton said when the treatment plant was being developed in the 1980s, Sangerville residents were told that no gray water systems other than those on the system in the two communities were eligible to dump at the facility.

“At a public hearing, citizens asked the question about dumping their holding tank sludge, sludge from their septic tanks, and their RV holding tanks at the Dean Farm, site of the treatment plant; the answer was no,” McNaughton said.

Sangerville invested about $80,000 in the district years ago; thus, all residents have a vested interest in the district, McNaughton said.

While he acknowledged 100 gallons of gray water is a small amount, McNaughton said allowing this leaves the situation open for any person to dispose of effluent at the treatment plant.

Selectman Len Nilson said he had asked Ruksznis about dumping his motor home’s gray water in the plant and got sort of a “mixed answer.”

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