RUMFORD — Selectmen on Thursday voted unanimously to hold a special town meeting Tuesday, March 7, to act on a 180-day water-extraction moratorium.

It will begin at 6 p.m. in Muskie Auditorium at Mountain Valley High School.

At the Feb. 2 board meeting, Len Greaney of Protect Rumford Water Alliance presented a petition with 520 signatures asking that a Jan. 25 vote of the board to deny acceptance of a water-extraction petition be overturned.

Poland Spring Water Co., a subsidiary of Nestle Waters North America, has proposed a 15- to 20-year contract with the Rumford Water District to draw up to 150 million gallons a year from two new wells on district property at the Ellis River aquifer off Route 5. In exchange, Poland Spring offered to pay the district more than $400,000 in annual lease and water payments.

The special town meeting warrant said that while a moratorium is in effect, a land-use ordinance would be drafted or current town ordinances would be amended to regulate the large-scale extraction of water in Rumford. The ordinance or amendments would be brought to Rumford officials and voters for consideration.

Following the vote Thursday night, petitioners in the audience applauded the board’s action.

Before the meeting, selectmen held a public hearing for ordinance requests or town charter amendments.

Greaney submitted a Water Protection Ordinance, “a local control preventive measure, which would protect our local water and ecological natural resources.”

It would:

* Provide local control;

* Emphasize the need to use the town’s water resource for the benefit of Rumford residents and the natural ecosystems;

* Prevent large-volume water bottlers from transporting the water in large tanker trucks beyond the boundaries of Rumford; and

* Provide a regulatory permitting process for establishing a bottling business in Rumford.

It doesn’t prevent a small, medium or large-volume water bottling corporation from establishing a bottling business in Rumford.

“The ordinance is designed to have the Nestle corporation come to the negotiation table with a proposal which would bring jobs and tax revenue to the town government and a rate fee allocation to the Rumford Water District,” Greaney said.

“Our ordinance prohibits the transport of water via tanker trucks or pipeline from Rumford for the purpose of bottling water,” he said. “That creates a situation where Nestle must establish a bottling plant in Rumford in order to extract large volumes of water from our precious aquifer.” 

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