This story doesn't sound like the events as I remember them. The Air Force must have left before 1988 as the State started opening up the Downeast Correctional Center in 1985 as I recall. I also recall that the Corps of Engineers has been the one that hasn't been able to come up with a decent solution to the homeowners problems. Didn't a water district get turned down because of the associated costs with maintaining the system that the Corps was going to saddle them and the town with? I don't remember hearing much if anything about leakage from the housing units being a serious problem except to remove the contaminated soil around the tanks. I think if you check carefully you might find that the fuel, lead, solvents and other chemicals came from the operational areas of the base and NOT the housing. The government specifically the DOD (Department of Defense) caused the contamination and then they welshed on making the homeowners whole when their damage was discovered. It should be an interesting meeting considering that the Corps of Engineers has been jerking the citizens around now for close to fifteen years!

okay...so here is what little I know. People in the Town of Machiasport a couple of years ago were sent a letter a few days before a town vote, with vague information about the fact that there was going to be a vote on whether or not to "FORM A LOCAL WATER DISTRICT", and unknown things might happen either way. The letter came from a group of people on a committee (apparently they had the bad luck to be living at "ground zero" in the affected area of poisoned water, which was why they got on that committee) and it attempted to lay out whether or not having a water district would be a good thing, and some of the citizens then tried to get more information to make an educated vote. One of the people contacted happened to be on the committee and a Selectman at that time, and had volunteered hours of his time to go and talk to "Federal Officials and their Representatives" ( I do not know if they were Army Corp of Engineers, or Air Force or some other Federal Entity or all of the above, etc.) According to this Selectman, the Federal entity that he was in communication with (I think it was the Army Corp of Engineers) had four or five vague ideas of options. First the Town would have to vote and say "yes" we want to form a local (Town) Water District., then after a yes vote, maybe one of the four or five options could be "pursued."

One option was do nothing, and hope nothing ever happens ( we may be in the middle of this option right now!). Apparently the "Poison" (no other word for all those chemicals is as accurate) is in the ground like a giant "Plume" and over the many decades has somewhat worked its way into the fractured granite, bedrock, ledge and what-have-you that is deep in the ground in this area. To this day, no one really knows exactly where this poison is and where it will someday go, and it is possible that it will not travel very far. Supposedly, this also involves the Government bringing water by truck to the dozen or so households that have all those chemicals in their wells right now. (We were told that the Government has been giving them water all along, and I personally hope that is true!)

There were a couple of more vague "options" listed by the then Selectman, but the big one was that if the Town voted to form a Water District, then the Army Corps of Engineers would set about helping the Town get a new source of water, and then a water system would be set up, and a Water Main would be put in and individual pipes would be run to each and every house in town, and each and every future new house, etc, etc. and this would solve the problem as regards the risk of the poisons popping up in people's drinking water in the future.

So, I am sure that some people wanted to vote for the Water District, and looked forward to the day that they would have a new and guaranteed pure source of water for their families and children to drink and enjoy. But something funny happened when they started asking questions, like, What would be the source of this pure, new water? (We are still looking, but so far, no one has found the fabled Lake Larabee!) And, much more importantly for anyone that pays taxes, WHO WOULD PAY FOR THE NEW SYSTEM OF PIPES AND WATER MAIN AND IN FACT THE WHOLE SHE-BANG OF A WATER SYSTEM!?!?!?!?! Who would maintain it, and pay for that maintenance??? The more those sorts of questions were asked, the stranger it got. The kindly Selectman could only say that it appeared that the nice people from the "Federal Government" were eager to help the town "get" a water district and water system and take care of "their" (the town's) water problem. But it became more and more likely that that was going to be the extent of the Federal Government's involvement - advice. ("Nasty water you got there, folks! Glad to see that you're doing the right thing and getting some nice, clean stuff!!!!

So, as I recall, there WAS a vote in the summer of 2007, and the Town said NO to a "Water District" because of some justified fear (and terror) about unknown costs (what if your house is a tremendously long way away from "the water Main" -- would you have to pick up the extra cost because there was extra distance involved, this on TOP of increased taxes if your town was left holding the bag for the costs of a water system???) Every time I ask at the Town Hall about the number of people in town I am told "Oh, about a thousand!"

You see, many of the townspeople are very concerned that if they give away their control by voting to HAVE a Water District, they will also lose the ability to say no to outsize taxes and additional unknown costs.

But, just as an aside, if you Google the phrase "Starboard Water District" you will find that the Legislature in Maine wants Machiasport to have a water district so badly that they went and signed emergency legislation in February 2008 so that our Town can vote again and again till we vote YES!, we want a water district! by July, 2010. I am not up on my emergency legislation, so I am guessing this thing is "provisional" until and unless the town does vote yes, but the weird thing is that the last line states that "This bill creates the Starboard Water District.", so, apparently they KNOW that we will soon come to our senses and change our votes --- BUT WHO TOLD THEM TO NAME IT AFTER ONE OF THE INNOCENT VILLAGES!!!

In case you have never visited, Starboard is a lovely village with a long and admirable history of fishing and sailing, etc, but I assure you, Starboard DID NOTHING TO POLLUTE THOSE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SITES AND SHOULD NOT HAVE ITS NAME DRAGGED THROUGH THE TRICHLOROETHYLENE!!!!

The first thing that the town should be asked is what name do they want on this water district? There are plenty of names available that the Feds have already polluted in that area, but that is not the central issue. THE FEDS ARE THE ONES THAT PUT THE POISON IN THAT AREA, THE DISTRICT SHOULD BE NAMED AFTER THEM AND THEY SHOULD FOOT THE COST OF MAKING THOSE NEIGHBORHOODS WHOLE AGAIN!!!! So, go ahead, call it the "Down East Maine, Federal Cold War Defense Water District", and I am sure that all the affected households will allow you guys to run fresh water and pipes to their households as long as you pay for it since it is your responsibility. And in the meantime, does anyone know where Erin Brokavitch is these days???At least in her case, once they proved who caused the pollution in the water she did the research on, that Entity was liable to clean it up and make the Citizens affected whole. Wonder if she could help get the Feds to clean up this mess and make the Citizens whole?

When the Air Force officially left the site maybe different than when all the soldiers left.

Put a huge water tank on top of your highest hill and feed all the houses below.

Sounds simple enough, just be careful, that much water pressure might blow the plumbing out of those beautiful old hoses.

Good luck, drinking clean water should be something we all can do. Until this is solved, buy water, better safe than dead.

To jomama: Do you mean that the polluted water afffects the community of Starboard?

To NewYorkGuy:

Excuse me if I say that I find your question a little interesting. What do you mean by "affects"? If I say as far as I know, that the little cluster of people and homes right in Starboard Cove are not now affected, is that all you are concerned about? Or by community, do you mean a larger geographic area? (To those that do not know, you can travel by car for miles and miles, and still be in an area considered "Starboard" -- for instance, North Ocean Drive) What if I could guarantee that in your lifetime, if you own property or live in greater Starboard you will never be "affected"? What if the Army Corps of Engineers tells you that you will "probably" never be affected? Would you go home and say "Honey, warm up the Espresso machine! They say we are not affected by the Poisoned Water!!!!" (actually, I don't know you, but I would bet and hope that you would not be so callous!)

Wouldn't you say that this is a perfect demonstration of John Dunne's famous poem? Ask not for whom the TCE plumes, it plumes for thee!!!

You see, for those who have never lived in a small and remote place, there are both blessings and obligations that go with living in a "community." The community that is being called to a meeting Monday Night at 6 is the town of Machiasport, and their "water" and pocketbooks are definitely affected! They will also have to think about the immediate risks to their families health and wealth, and the long term risks to future generations. Both Starboard and Machiasport have families that go back in town LONGER than the TOWNS have officially existed. Unlike some of the Johnnie-come-latelies, who have a deep (and legal) interest in the subject because they are desperately hoping to get rich by selling real estate they bought for peanuts and plan to sell for millions, the long term families (and some of the newcomers, surely) have to weigh the consequences for their grandchildren if they do nothing, and the risks to others in the community if they decide that since they are not affected personally, the "cost" of clean-up or new water is too expensive.

At least one of the sites named falls into the geographical area of "Starboard", but the other site is near Bucks Harbor (actually, I was told when I asked years ago that their is at least one other site, but that can be discussed later!) It is the Town of Machiasport that will be involved.

Now, just to back up a little. I HAVE NO INFORMATION other than what I listed here. My previous knowledge to this weekend was a few conversations over the years with my town fathers when the subject came up. I did not know at the time whether the Town of Machiasport would or would not be wise to get involved in creating a Water District, and kind of lost interest in the subject after the vote was "NO." I was somewhat stunned to discover by accident one day browsing the Internet that there was a bill in the Maine State Legislature CREATING a Starboard Water District (this weekend I discovered that they have been dragging this bill out every year of two and changing the Geographical area and year and passing it again!, someone needs to ask Senator Raye (Emery) just who has been pushing this?)

I have now spent most of the weekend Googling some of the key phrases, andI have been stunned to learn that there are literally THOUSANDS of places just like this situation. In fact, there is an official name. FUDS. Formerly Used Defense Site. In fact, some money was allocated, and has been spent over the years to clean up these places. There are several in Maine itself. If we were a really big site, we could probably get on the Superfund list, and get cleaned up quickly. Obviously, we are not very big, so we have to deal with reality.

Which means, Monday night at the meeting, we have to get certain information.

1.) How big is the problem? Is it going to affect the whole town someday, or just one neighborhood? (how many homes don't drink water from a well right now. Where do they get water from? Is the "Plume" the same as it was when first detected? Is it moving? Is it bigger? Is it smaller? (TCE is a VOC and evaporates in open water -- not much "open water" in that area, though!!!)

2.) Is one good solution to put giant filter systems at just the homes affected? (The EPA website says the way to filter TCE out is Granulated Activated Carbon filters and Packed Tower Aeration. What does that mean in the real world?

3.) Since the ENTIRE problem was caused by the Federal Government, they are supposed to clean it up. The problem simply is limited funds. Under what circumstances would we get cleaned up? It is just lovely that they are eager to help us form a Water District, but if the Town gets involved in a water district, what are the risks of an open-ended commitment that could lead to financial ruin for each and every Taxpayer in Machiasport? Remember, if the Federal Government had not dribbled TCE into the ground, Machiasport WOULD NOT NEED A WATER DISTRICT!!!

4.) and remember Village-People, no Pitchforks and Torches at Monday Night's Meeting! Nobody did this on purpose. A nice man from the Government is going to come and give us a line of you-know-what about how eager they are to help us solve "our problem." The truth is he will not be bringing a bag of money with him to pay for clean up. But a deeper truth is that this happened in the quest for the common good, National Defense. (I am a proud Veteran, but thirty years ago if my Commanding Officer had told me to pour TCE down the drain or out the back door on the ground I would have done it!) That is why I propose that if there ever is a water district, it should immediately named "The Downeast Water District" or the "Downeast National Defense Water District." Heck, we already have a state facility at one of the sites, The "Downeast Correctional Facility", a matched set would go nicely! (and notice, nobody charges the town to run the prison!).