BANGOR DAILY NEWS • November 19, 2021
What do the following have in common: mines; wells in Fairfield; salmon farms in Belfast, Bucksport, Gouldsboro, and Jonesboro; a Portland-area fish and lettuce hydroponic operation; a land-based eel-farm; and a Millinocket cloud computing center? Water. Water has always been fundamental to Maine’s prosperity. What happens if the salmon farms suck more ground water out of aquifers than nature replenishes? Or dump too much organic waste into our pristine waters? How are the local utilities pricing the billions of gallons of water the fish farms require? Has the state adequately modeled the impact the consumption is going to have on local supplies 10 years from now? Asking whether Maine’s government recognizes the scale and impact of growing demand for this seemingly infinite resource, is cognizant of the impact climate change will have, and is making sure that all this water use is appropriately priced, regulated and protected for future Mainers. ~ Lawrence Butler, Thomaston