U.S. Water News Online
DEXTER, Maine -- In a state where the "back to the land"
movement is seeing
an increasing number of rural homes being built beside farming
operations,
the Maine Department of Agriculture is fielding an increasing number
of
complaints of wells being contaminated by agricultural runoff. In a
typical
case, a rural family has invested over $6,000 for a water treatment
system
that cleans well water that allegedly is tainted by runoff from a
manure pile
at a nearby farm.
Charges of groundwater contamination by farms is "a very
widespread problem"
across Maine, said agricultural compliance officer Craig Leonard.
However,
added Leonard, farmers and homeowners must live side by side in
Maine, like
they do in other states.
Agriculture officials in Maine recently have been the focus of a
complaint by
Dexter residents that they were advocating the interests of farmers
over
those of rural homeowners. Pauline Gray of Dexter has charged that
the
Department of Agriculture, because of its close ties to farming,
refuses to
recognize a connection between groundwater contamination and such
farming
practices as manure-spreading. "They are protecting their own," said
Gray in
a newspaper interview.
While recognizing the frustrations of rural homeowners, Leonard
noted that
the department's primary responsibility is to make sure farmers are
meeting
Best Management Practices (BMPs) set forth by the commissioner of
agriculture. If the farmer meets the BMPs, he noted, he is protected.
If not,
remedies are sought. He said he recognizes that a homeowner may not
like
manure-spreading across the fence, but "the farmer may not like a new
house
beside his barn. It does go both ways."
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