The Centerboard

If the cabin is a mast, then the centerboard of our new home is a 220 foot deep artesian well. It tapped some of the best drinking water in the country. Poland Springs wanted it. They wanted it enough in 2006 to put in 23 illegal well points about a mile from here in order to test the water. They wanted to tap the aquifer that we all sit on here for up to 50,000 gallons a day. They wanted to send trucks to retrieve the water up and down a country road a mile from here. Poland Springs is owned by The Nestle Corporation. The people of our town fought them off.

Poland Springs, aka the Nestle Coporation, went into a wildlife management area owned by our town and without permission tapped the water for testing 3 years ago. The well points are the relatively shallow wells that tap the ground water. Well points range from 10-25 feet below the ground. Seeking to further their sources of “the best tasting water on earth”, Poland Springs entered into an engagement with what turned out to be a town full of smart, active and courageous people, who would not be mislead by a corporate giant.

I didn’t know that I’d become part of a town when we bought the land. I didn’t anticipate that I’d be on the front lines of the movement away from bottled water to tap water. Take back the tap, we say, and mean it, because the cost of drilling, transporting, bottling, and transporting again, is immense. We don’t need to pay it. We especially, do not need to pay Poland Springs, Nestle, Deer Park, Coca Cola or any other bottling company, for water inferior to what we can find on our property.

The illegal well points are gone. The selectmen of the town made sure of that. What is left is a bad feeling about Poland Springs and a good feeling about this town. This town that I’m proud to be a part of has a solid center.