Friday, April 24, 1998



           Volunteers to track soures of
                        pollution 

                      By Susan Rayfield 
                          Staff Writer
                ©Copyright 1998 Guy Gannett Communications

     DAMARISCOTTA - Volunteers hope to start unraveling a
     mystery Saturday, when they gather on the banks of Great Salt
     Bay to hunt for sources of water pollution.

     Depending on what they discover, the bay - once rich in oysters
     - could eventually be clean enough to again allow shellfish
     harvesting. It has been closed for more than a decade.

     This is the first comprehensive effort to survey the shores of the
     400-acre bay, which fronts Damariscotta, Newcastle and
     Nobleboro. Sponsoring the effort is the Planning Alliance of the
     Damariscotta River Estuary, or PADRE, with part of a $28,000
     federal grant.

     About 25 people are expected to fan out in teams and question
     some 200 homeowners living within 500 feet of the shore. They
     also will be checking for shoreline erosion, looking at septic
     systems, and making note of agricultural lands with possible
     fertilizer runoff.

     Failing septic systems, one source of pollution, often reveal
     themselves with an oily sheen on the water, or very green
     grass.

     ''If we find a malfunctioning leachfield, we will work with the
     landowner to correct the problem,'' said PADRE director Tom
     Ford. The Department of Environmental Protection has a small
     community-grant program with money available to help, he said.

     In assessing the pollution, the group also will take into account
     the history of the area, including former shipbuilding activities
     and the presence of an old dump.

     Three years ago, the state Department of Marine Resources
     conducted a similar, but less detailed, survey and found no
     pollution sources - beyond a known, treated water sewerage
     system serving Damariscotta Mills.

     Still, water samples at about 10 sites around the bay, taken by
     Marine Resources and the Damariscotta River Association's
     Tide Water Watch, routinely show elevated counts of fecal
     coliform bacteria.

     Water flow in the bay was changed early this century when
     causeways and dams were built to create Damariscotta Lake.

     ''That could have changed the ecology,'' said DMR Health
     Director Paul Anderson, taking another stab at the mystery. It
     also could have altered the way the river flows.

     The volunteers have been trained for their task by DMR
     scientists.

     The state agency employs three people to cover a territory from
     Kittery to Searsport, and cannot handle the work without help,
     said marine resource specialist Jan Barter.

     Between 3,000 and 1,500 years ago, American Indians left
     heaps of up to 15 million cubic feet of oyster and clam shells,
     called middens, along the banks of the Damariscotta River just
     below the bay.

     Ford guesses there are far fewer oysters in the bay these days,
     but the water could be a rich source of hardshell and softshell
     clams, called quahogs and steamers.

     This summer, other volunteers will find them, count them, and
     check their tissue samples for toxins.

     There is hope that in the foreseeable future some of the
     shellfish could end up on plates.

     ''The pollution is not really bad,'' Barter said. ''If they can solve
     some of the problems, Great Salt Bay could be used for
     harvesting again.''


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