VEAZIE, Maine — A local woman, who was part of a vocal group of residents concerned about possible cancerous disinfectant byproducts in the town’s water supply, was elected president of the water district board she once criticized.
Joan Perkins was appointed to the Orono-Veazie Water District board in July to fill a vacancy that expires at the end of 2016, and was elected president at the group’s Feb. 10 meeting by a 3-2 vote.
“I voted for myself. I was the tiebreaker,” Perkins said Friday.
Her road to the water district board actually started at a November 2013 town selectmen’s meeting where a group of University of Maine nursing students made a presentation about high levels of disinfection byproducts called trihalomethanes, or THMs, a suspected carcinogen, detected at UMaine’s Memorial Union, one of the district’s testing sites.
Perkins said she was surprised by the THM data, which she said was was downplayed in the water district’s newsletter, and decided to do her own research.
“A friend of mine and I went to the water district and asked for the trihalomethane data and that is when we noticed there was a consistent problem,” the new board chairwoman said. “That is how it all began.”
The group of concerned residents — led by an outspoken Perkins — started asking the district to improve the water supply and demanded more public input.
When Perkins began attending all the water board meetings, the district was under a consent order for exceeding the THM limit in 2012 issued by the Environmental Protection Agency, which has set a limit of 80 parts per billion for THMs in public drinking water supplies. The levels in 2012 were as high as 89.2 parts per billion.
Trihalomethanes are a group of four chemical compounds, including chloroform, that form when chlorine used to kill bacteria reacts with naturally occurring organic matter, such as decaying leaves, algae and human or animal waste.
The water district took a dozen steps to reduce levels and the federal consent order was lifted in February 2014. A test last August showed a level of 53.3 parts per billion.
The work was not enough for the concerned residents who started an online petition requesting a “comprehensive plan to substantially improve the quality of our water.” They held a silent pajama protest at the Oct. 15 water district meeting, bringing their sleepwear-clad children. They raised concerns about testing directly after hydrant flushing and requested support from both the Orono Town Council, which has held public meetings, and Veazie Selectmen, who paid for independent water tests at 10 homes. All the test levels, which ranged from a low of 54.9 on Randolph Drive to a high of 70 on Ridgeview Drive, were below the EPA’s limit.
Perkins was appointed to the board by Veazie town leaders in July 2014 and has worked to improve communication between the board and the public. Board members are paid $400 annually for their time and the chairperson gets $500.
“Our relationship from the start was one of me asking questions [and] there was some resistance from the district for providing information. That has improved,” she said. “Hopefully, we can continue that trend so it becomes very transparent for the community to know what we’re doing and why.”
The water district has a total of five trustees on rotating terms, three appointed by Orono’s town council and two selected by Veazie.
The board has seen a lot of recent turnover, with four new members appointed in the last year. In addition to Perkins, in March Orono town councilors appointed Jason Bolton to a five-year term and appointed Paul Smith to fill a vacancy that expires in December 2015. In December, longtime Trustee John McCormack was replaced by Orono resident Farahad Dastoor.
When former Superintendent Dennis Cross in October announced his retirement effective the end of the year after 38 years at the post, he said it had nothing to do with the recent controversy.
“The whole group is fairly new,” Perkins said of the board. “Mr. [Ken] Borneman has something like 20 years, but everyone else is new. Our main priority right now is to replace the superintendent. We’re looking to select a qualified, talented person. We have eight applicants.”
The board will gather at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Orono’s town council chambers to begin reviewing the applications, interim Superintendent Ron Hidu said.
“The district has hired the Maine Municipal Association to walk us through the process,” Hidu said, adding no timetable has been set for selecting a candidate.
Perkins, who also wrote a December 2013 OpEd that ran in the Bangor Daily News, titled “In Orono, Veazie, water district’s compliance is not enough” said she has not been alone in her quest for improvements.
“There is an active group in Orono and Veazie who have brought this to the forefront,” the new chairwoman said.