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10/20/2008

Vote 'Yes' on Question 3

Maine is blessed with abundant water.

We've got countless springs, lakes and ponds, as well as a range of flowing water from the smallest trickle of a stream to huge, roaring rivers. And we've got the Atlantic Ocean, whose tidal force collides with our coastline from Kittery to Lubec.

We use that water. We fish and swim and paddle in it. We irrigate crops with it. We generate electricity with it. We dump our waste into it. Most important, and what allowed us to settle in this beautiful region in the first place, is that we drink the state's fresh water.

In an invisible daily task, pumps across the state draw water from aquifers, from wells, from lakes, ponds and rivers and send it through a network of pipes to our faucets, hoses and showers. Often, that water must be treated before it can be safely consumed.

Likewise, when we send our waste out through toilets and drains, or down the sewers of industrial facilities, other pipes whisk away that dirty water for cleaning before it is dumped into our rivers or along our coastlines.

But here's the problem: Those networks of pipes and those systems that treat both drinking water and waste water need regular maintenance and replacement. And since most of them are underground or underwater, they're pretty expensive to fix.

While the water bills that many of us pay take care of a portion of that maintenance, Maine's drinking water and waste water systems are aging (almost half of the state's water mains are about a century old) and, in many cases, they're falling apart.

Rural water system managers say that some of their pipes are so deteriorated and leak so badly that only get half of the water that originates at the head of the system makes its way to consumers' taps.

And changing federal drinking water standards as well as clean water standards for the bodies of water that receive our waste mean that there's a constant challenge to deliver cleaner drinking water and dump cleaner waste water.

On Nov. 4, Maine voters will decide whether to support a $3.4 million bond package that would pull down $17 million in federal funds. Half of that money would go to improve drinking water treatment and supply systems, the other half to build and improve wastewater treatment facilities. The money would be borrowed by the state at less than market rates, and would be given as either loans or grants to municipalities or water systems from Eagle Lake to Newport to Augusta.

We can think of no legitimate argument against improving the state's crucial drinking water and waste water infrastructure. Even those who don't like bonds or state borrowing surely drink tap water -- or their children do?

Maine voters should approve the bond package, which is Question 3 on the referendum election list.

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