SKOWHEGAN, Maine — The Maine Water Company's reconstruction of the Skowhegan dam -- an urgent project as the old dam between two ponds holding the town drinking water was malfunctioning -- is now complete.
The rebuilt dam between the Upper Pond and Lower Pond will enable the company to store more water to supply the town.
"It's greater than 50 years old, and the existing structure was starting to fail," says Mike Poulin, superintendent for the Skowhegan Water District.
"We were not able to maintain the kind of water storage that we wanted to maintain, in the upper pond," says Mark Vannoy, vice president of Maine Water Company.
Maine Water invested about $300,000 in the project in order to continue to supply the majority of water treated and sent to Skowhegan homes and businesses to drink, shower and cook.
"The ponds are both spring-fed," Poulin says. "Those are critical to the town of Skowhegan for both drinking water and fire protection services."
"We also supplement that with Kennebec river water during the summer months, when we can't keep up with demand," says Vannoy.
The new dam is critical to help maintain water storage capacity.
"We have a flow control structure on the dam, and we are able to control the water flows from the Upper Pond down to the Lower Pond, and then through the treatment system," says Vannoy.
The Upper Pond is a reservoir storage pond for the Lower Pond.
"This is an identified need within the company to provide continued drinking water for years to come to the Skowhegan community, so it was time to replace the structure," says Poulin.
About a month ago, the town issued a four-day 'Do Not Drink' order after several tests by the Maine Water Company determined the soapy odor some residents noticed in their water was related to the dam construction project.
"The water had an odor to it, but even with the odor, when we sampled, we were still meeting the safe drinking water standards, and all of the materials used here at the dam were in compliance with the engineering standards for contact with potable water," Vannoy says, "But we did find there was an odor here that needed to be dealt with and wasn't acceptable as far as serving our customers."
Vannoy says the water is and will continue to be safe for consumption.
"But even with the odor, when we sampled we were still meeting the safe drinking water standards, and all of the materials used here at the dam were in compliance with the engineering standards for contact with potable water," says Vannoy.
Poland Spring and Hannaford were among the businesses that immediately provided the town with bottled water during the 'Do Not Drink' order.
The new dam will start controlling water flow in the next few days.