RUMFORD — Some 175 ratepayers and residents gathered Wednesday evening for a marathon meeting as Poland Spring proposed drawing water from the Ellis River watershed.

Mark Dubois, a geologist and natural resource manager for the company, led a team of four people who pitched a 15- to 20-year contract to the Rumford Water District for Poland Spring to draw up to 150 million gallons a year from two new wells on district property off Route 5.

In exchange, Poland Spring could pay the district more than $400,000 in annual lease and water payments.

Following the 100-minute presentation, ratepayers and residents had their turn to ask questions, although they were limited to two minutes each.

Resident Jon Starr was one of several people calling for a voluntary six-month moratorium on this issue.

“The water is going to be here forever,” Starr said. “Nestle (Poland Spring’s parent company) is going to be here forever. Six months doesn’t seem like a heck of a long time.”

Andrew Hamilton of Eaton Peabody Attorneys at Law, legal counsel for the Water District, said, “There’s going to be plenty of opportunity for input. Some people may want this to be a town meeting vote. This is the property of the Water District. This is the determination of the Water District. Unless or until the charter is changed, the decision has to be made by the trustees.”

He added, “Once we get to a contract that is ready for public review, I will advise the trustees: ‘Do not approve an agreement until there’s been an opportunity for public input.’ So residents and customers, yes, will have an opportunity.”

James Thibodeau, chairman of the Water District board of trustees, said, “We’re here to do what’s right for the customers and the district. We don’t look at things as greed. We look at things as black and white. Any decision we make will be made on business, not personal feelings.”

He said, “The District will only consider an agreement to sell water to Poland Springs if the agreement: (1) allows the District to continue to provide a safe, reliable source of water to all its customers without harm to the sustainable yield of the Ellis River aquifer; (2) stabilizes or even lower rates for its customers; and (3) creates economic and social benefits for the community.”

Hamilton noted that Ricky Pershken, technical consultant for the Water District, will be looking over the data presented by Poland Spring.

Water would be piped to a loading station on Route 2 and hauled away by an estimated average of 50 to 55 trucks per day.

The exact amount to be withdrawn, financial specifics and the number of trucks all still have to be hammered out, Dubois said in an interview Tuesday. Those figures would be based on how much water the Maine Department of Environmental Protection rules is safe to pull out of the aquifer.

Before it gets to that stage, at least two of the three Water District trustees have to say yes. And before that, there has to be a public hearing.

Wednesday night was for listening, District Superintendent Brian Gagnon said.

Poland Spring, the No. 1-selling bottled spring water in the U.S., first approached Gagnon two years ago about exploring the water in Rumford. The Poland Spring brand is fed entirely from Maine water, last year pumping out 875 million gallons, according to state records.

Demand has been growing and it’s been six years since the company tapped a new site.

Dubois said an intensive test the week of Oct. 13 on Rumford Water District land pumped 300 gallons of water per minute for 48 hours, took a short break, then pumped 100 gallons per minute for 72 hours.

Impact on the aquifer was measured inside the district’s Milligan Well and inside monitoring wells at three neighboring homes.

“We were trying to answer this question of yes or no, is the site sustainable? And it is. That’s what we’re reporting back,” Dubois said. “We determined there’s very little influence on (Rumford’s) existing supply and we determined there’s no to very little influence on those off-site wells.”

The Water District right now draws 400,000 gallons a day from Milligan Well for its customers, he said.

Poland Spring is proposing drawing as much as 432,000 gallons a day on top of that — an average of 300 gallons per minute for 150 million gallons per year.

At that rate, Poland Spring is proposing paying the water district $411,000 a year: $267,000 for water and $12,000 a month to lease space on the district’s land.

If the DEP approved a smaller withdrawal, 100 million gallons, the district would receive $322,000 a year: $178,000 for water and $12,000 a month for the lease.

“At 300 gallons a minute, it draws down the (test) well only 4 feet,” Dubois said. “Within 24 hours, the water snaps right back.”

According to Dubois, 223.6 million gallons of water flow out of the Ellis River watershed every day, measured by a U.S. Geological Survey gauge in Andover.

“We don’t even think the (proposed) withdrawal will be measurable off the 223 (million gallons),” Dubois said. “We don’t even know if we can measure it; it’s that small.”

There would be ongoing monitoring of fish, habitat and the aquifer.

“We’re going to talk about how it’s going to be monitored in the future and by whom; that’s the biggest question that we’re getting from people,” Dubois said. “That trust thing, we see it in every town. People don’t want to trust an entity withdrawing water; they want to see somebody else that they can trust or a third party, independent.”

The site picked by Poland Spring, North Spring B, has additionally been tested and has met the federal standard for spring water, he said.

Under Poland Spring’s proposal, water drawn from it would be piped 2½ miles to a loading station on private land off Route 2.

If Water District trustees accept, plans would still have to pass through the Maine Public Utilities Commission and the Maine DEP.

The site wouldn’t be operational until 2018, which is also when a still-to-be-defined community benefit would kick in, Dubois said. What local project or projects Poland Spring would contribute to — and how much — is still being discussed.

Poland Spring, whose parent company is Nestle Waters North America, has three bottling plants in Maine and employs 900 people. The plants are in Poland, Hollis and Kingfield.

This summer, a group of local residents gathered to oppose Poland Spring’s plans, calling itself the Western Maine Water Alliance, highlighting issues in other communities and concerns about truck traffic, noise and long-term effects on the water supply. Alliance members planned to turn out to Wednesday’s meeting.

kskelton@sunjournal.com

Details of Poland Spring’s proposal to Rumford Water District trustees:

• Poland Spring would enter a 15- to 20-year contract to become a Water District customer (with possible options to extend that contract).

• Poland Spring would be second in line to existing customers. The district would also retain short-term cutoff control in the event of issues such as natural disasters and long-term cutoff control in the event of issues such as climate change limiting precipitation.

• Poland Spring would pay a lease rate to the district of $12,000 a month to use boreholes on the district’s property.

• Additionally, if it withdrew 100 million gallons of water a year, Poland Spring would pay the district $178,000 for the water. If it withdrew 150 million gallons of water in a year, it would pay $267,000. (The amount to be withdrawn would have to be approved by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.)