WATERVILLE $ The city hopes to clean up two wastewater lagoons on West River Road that contain contaminated sludge from a former woolen mill operation.

City councilors on Wednesday voted to apply for a Brownfield Grant from the federal Environmental Protection Agency to clean the lagoons, which contain effluent from the former Wyandotte Industries mill across the road which closed in 1981.

The lagoons, which are about 2 1/2 acres each in size, contain volatile organic compounds and semi-organic compounds, according to City Engineer Greg Brown.

"It's not an immediate health hazard and it has never been an immediate health hazard," Brown told councilors in a public hearing prior to the council's 6-0 vote.

Brown said the water in the lagoons has been tested repeatedly and the tests confirm no contamination has left the lagoons.

"The water in the lagoons actually meets drinking water standards," he said.

The state Department of Environmental Protection has done an audit on the shallow lagoons, which are situated on about 33 acres the city foreclosed on in February. Waterville Industries, Inc., a defunct Rhode Island corporation, had owned the property and had not paid taxes on it since the mid 1990s. The company had claimed that Maine Guarantee Authority, the state financial security agency that sold the company the property, was negligent in not disclosing that the waste pools posed potential liability.

City councilors for many years had voted not to foreclose on the property, fearing it would inherit liability from the contamination.

The grant the city will apply for Nov. 14 will be for up to $200,000, according to Brown and City Manager Michael Roy. That money would be used for closing the lagoons and working through the details of how to close them. The city is required to pitch in a 20 percent match $ or $40,000 $ and that cost may be in the form of city labor, equipment and materials, Brown said.

Johnson Heights resident David Solmitz asked councilors what the land will be used for once the lagoons are cleaned. Mayor Paul LePage said the city has no immediate plans for it.

"Once we get it cleaned, then we can dialogue on what we are going to do with the property," he said.

Brown said the land is zoned industrial and it would be prudent to use it for industrial purposes.

Meanwhile, he said anyone wanting to comment on the lagoons, the process for cleanup or the property in general may do so at lagoons@waterville-me.gov
The site will be open for comment until Nov. 12.

Amy Calder $ 861-9247
acalder@centralmaine.com