To the Editor:
We urge the Cuckolds Council not to pipe sewage through pristine, historic Newagen Harbor.
Pipes would pass every eight feet through 50-pound cement blocks dropped in the narrow eastern entrance channel, cross the shallow harbor floor and emerge through an exposed mud flat (at mean tide) up into a new septic system at the Newagen Inn.
It’s inconceivable that the council, which prides itself as stewards of historic restoration and the environment, would impose this project on one of Maine’s major 15th-16th century harbors (the others: Damariscove, Monhegan and Pemaquid).
Especially since there are four viable alternatives:
1) Pipe across to Squirrel Island and on through its existing pipes to Ocean Point and the Boothbay District Sewer System (granted an agreement could be reached with Squirrel).
2) Pump from an above ground tank on Cuckolds to sewage tankers that routinely service islands and coastal ships at sea.
3) Buy a property currently for sale just on the edge of Newagen Harbor (in a direct line to the Cuckolds) and pipe it there for septic treatment.
4) Build a septic system on the main or western Cuckolds Island by importing soil — if the mandatory minimum layer of 18-inch soil could be maintained year round.
5) If engineers deem #4 impossible, then the unique aspects of this rock-bound lighthouse project may allow the Cuckolds Council to apply to the Department of Environmental Protection for a variance to permit a treated overboard discharge system.
Of the five options, the last is by far the most practical and the most economic. A variance would seem reasonable.
Whatever, with solutions 1-5 above, there’s no reason to pipe sewage through Newagen Harbor. We beg the council to reconsider.
