A skylight illuminates floating particles in one of the primary clarifiers at Skowhegan Water Pollution Control Plant.
On September 29th, 1989 the facility received a license to landspread lime stabilized wastewater treatment plant sludge on four fields totaling forty-eight acres owned by Gloria Hewett and managed by Tim Hewett. The license had a term of five years.
Inside of a defunct structure between 3052 field H3 and 3052 field H2 on Gloria Tim's Hewitt's property. In 1989, Skowhegan Water Pollution Control Plant began spreading sludge on their fields. Someone is growing corn on field H1. It is possible to grow corn on fields that have been contaminated by PFAS because corn and small grains take up less PFOS than grass and legumes. Field H2, however, is not being used.
On March 10th, 1994, Kennebec Sanitary Treatment District received a license to apply sludge on 4 fields totaling 130.7 acres owned by Burleigh Crocket and operated by David Emery. In October 2020, Egide Jr and Egide Sr discovered that their milk was contaminated with PFAS.
PFAS, or Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances are a group of synthetic organofluorine chemical compounds with multiple fluorine atoms attached to an alkyl chain. In the 1940's, PFAS became widely used in household products and industrial settings because of their unique ability to repel oil, grease, water, and heat. The chemicals, however, break down very slowly and tend to build up in people, animals, and the environment over time. PFAS have many adverse effects on the body, including decreased fertility or increased likelihood for high blood pressure in pregnant women, reduced ability of the body’s immune system to fight infections, reduced vaccine response, child development effects including low birth weight, accelerated puberty, bone variations and behavioral changes, and an increased risk of some cancers.
In Maine, from the 1970s till the practice was banned in 2022, water treatment plants cut landfilling costs by spreading a nutrient-rich byproduct from the treatment process called biosolids or sludge on farmland for use as fertilizer. Although the sludge was treated for hazards like E. coli and arsenic, much of the waste, especially that which came from paper mills, still contained dangerously high levels of PFAS. The chemicals built up in the environments onto which the sludge was spread, contaminating the soil, crops, livestock, groundwater, and people around the sites, and causing enormous economic and health crises.
Right now, Maine DEP is conducting soil and groundwater sampling at all sites that were licensed for land application of biosolids, over 700 around the state.
Egide Sr's drawing of Dostie Farms, with dots indicating contaminated sites.
The Maine DACF first began investigating PFAS contamination at farms in 2016 when milk at a dairy in Arundel, Maine was found to contain high levels of PFOS. The DACF has also conducted three statewide retail milk sampling surveys. In 2020, one retail sample indicated PFOS levels of concern, and DACF worked with the processor to trace the source milk to a contaminated farm in Fairfield, Maine.
A pile of sawdust on the farm.
Dappled light on the road that seperates field CP 1 from field 3 CA
Waterer used by the Dostie’s few remaining cows.
An overgrown round bale feeder.
A structure in field P-1 (EGAD Site ID: 30369)
Egide Jr and Egide Sr's milk tested well above the state limit for perfluorooctane sulfonic acid – 640 parts per trillion when the state’s limit is 210 parts per trillion. Follow-up tests revealed that one of the wells, many of the pastures and even the Dosties themselves contained high levels of PFAS. Dostie farms stopped producing dairy in 2023. One of its fields, CROCKET 4-1-5, is now being used as a testing site for University of Maine PFAS researchers.
Machinery inside of the room which houses Kennebec Sanitary Treatment District's filter press.
Filter presses operate on feed pressure and can be used for high volume separation of solids from slurries, utilizing recessed or membrane plates. When wastewater passes through the filter plates the discharge system and the filter medium retain the solid particulates. The wastewater slurry is continually fed into the system until all the water is squeezed out. The remaining solids form a dry cake and are collected in a basin prior to disposal.
Pipes Inside Skowhegan Water Pollution Control Plant’s filter press room.
A tree grows on the bank of the Kennebec River, facing the place where the Skowhegan Water Polution Control Plant releases its treated wastewater into the river.
A short trail loops around the water treatment plant and runs along the river. From it, you can see the domes of the primary clarifiers at the water treatment plant. A fallen tree, just off the trail
Kennebec Sanitary Treatment District, through a hole in the fence around its perimeter.
Purified wastewater leaves Skowhegan Water Pollution Control Plant.
Dirt piles behind Kennebec Sanitary Treatment District
Primary clarifiers at Kennebec Sanitary Treatment District
George's drawing of a pile of biosolids. The sludge sat for days in ten-foot-tall piles before it was spread.
A cone marks one of George's contaminated private wells.
George lives behind 142112 FIELD C-4. According to the DEP, this field was not licensed for class B material, but did recieve class A NVIRO and possibly manure.
Maine residents with private drinking water wells exceeding Maine's interim drinking water standard for PFAS, as identified through the state's soil and groundwater investigation, are provided with filtration systems to ensure their drinking water is clean and safe. George has a GAC system, which uses activated carbon to remove the pollutants from the drinking water as it enters the building from the well.
George's drawing of the sludge spreading machine. The figure on the top left describes the path the machine took around 142112 FIELD C-4.
One of the primary clarifiers at Skowhegan Water Pollution Control Plant.
In this machine, solids floating at the surface and other large particles from the water or wastewater flow are removed before biological treatment. Sludge is settled to the bottom of the clarifier basins and collected by a rake and removed by a sludge removal system.
Portland Water District received a license to spread lime stabilized wastewater treatment plant sludge on 93 acres owned by Daniel Harrison and Henry Perkins. The license was issued September 17, 199s for a term of 5 years. Henry Perkins withdrew his authorization for the Portland water district to spread the sludge on December 7, 1995.