An Overview of the Drinking Water Supply for the L/A region
Auburn Water District and the City of Lewiston’s Water Division each serve as public water supplies for the cities of Auburn and Lewiston, respectively, and have been supplying water from Lake Auburn for over 150 years. Both entities share their efforts in watershed protection, water quality monitoring, and drinking water treatment. Shared infrastructure exists until the point of distribution for the separate cities, and each entity maintains their own distribution system
The History of Auburn Water District and the City of Lewiston’s Partnership & Protection
Auburn Water District began drawing water from Lake Auburn in 1875. Prior to this, residents primarily used wells and springs. The City of Lewiston had once pulled water from the Androscoggin River. In 1873, they received authorization from the legislature to begin using Lake Auburn as a drinking water source, and they made the official switch by 1899 once the infrastructure was completed. The State Legislature enacted a law in 1880 prohibited bodily contact with Lake Auburn, which was then further adopted into ordinance by the City of Auburn.
For some time, both cities had separate infrastructure at Lake Auburn, and because Lake Auburn is fully encompassed in Auburn, much of the Lake’s defense was conducted by Auburn Water District in terms of land use protections and ensuring activities throughout the watershed did not compromise the water quality. Additional, Auburn Water District had sought out to purchase shoreline properties and focus directly on land protection. In 1925, the two entities funded the joint purchase of a patrol boat and began in-lake patrols in 1926.
The 1986 Safe Drinking Water Act’s Surface Water Treatment Rule required filtration for public drinking water supplies, but some pristine sources were granted filtration waivers. At this time, Auburn Water District and the City of Lewiston began a water quality sampling program, taking monthly in-lake samples. The following year, they jointly funded a Lake Auburn Watershed Study leading to other control measures and collaboration. By 1990, the in-lake and tributary monitoring program increased to monthly sampling. By this time, Auburn Water District had acquired 743 acres of land in the watershed, and in 1991 the City of Lewiston made its first land purchase in the watershed.
Exemption from Filtration & the Importance of Source Water Protection
The several years following the 1986 Safe Drinking Water Act’s Surface Water Treatment Rule were a major time of collaboration and success between Auburn Water District and the City of Lewiston. In 1991, the Surface Treatment Water Rule allowed for exemptions to the filtration requirements for pristine water sources. The protection efforts leading up to this time helped the two entities earn this status. The Auburn Water District continued to strengthen its protective provisions, drafting a set of bylaws that would be necessary to be granted the filtration waiver. The requirements for a waiver included the establishment of a Restricted Zone or no-trespassing area around the intake. The drafted bylaws included this provision, further establishing four priority zones of protection in the watershed.
Additional measures required to receive the filtration waiver status included the development of a water quality monitoring program as well as the delineation of watershed control activities. Upon the adoption of Auburn Water District’s bylaws in 1991, the State of Maine granted the filtration waiver December 30, 1991 and the bylaws went into effect on January 1, 1992.
By 1993, the Lake Auburn Watershed Protection Commission had been formed to carry out the watershed control measures. The Interlocal Cooperative Agreement establishing the Commission specified the joint responsibility of Auburn Water District and the City of Lewiston to equally fund the Commission and its efforts for watershed protection.
To this day, Auburn Water District and the City of Lewiston still have a filtration waiver granted from the State of Maine. Because of this, watershed protection and the efforts of Lake Auburn Watershed Protection Commission are vital.
In 2009, the first phase of the Lewiston-Auburn Water Treatment Facility began. The two entities now share all watershed protection, water quality, and treatment efforts, jointly funding assigned staff to these departments, all stationed at the Treatment Facility on Lake Auburn.