Who uses water from the Orland/Narramissic/Alamoosook watershed?

The towns of Orland and Bucksport, along with the Toddy Pond Association, Alamoosook Lake Association, and Great Pond Mountain Conservation Trust, among other local groups, are concerned about water issues.

The Orland Village Dam and dams on Toddy Pond and Alamoosook Lake control the overall flow of water in the system. The Alamoosook Lake dam is the primary control on the supply of freshwater in the system; the Orland Village Dam is located at the head of tide, and restricts the flow of freshwater out of the river and blocks most high tides, preventing natural tidal movements and resulting in brackish conditions in the impoundment.

These dams were formerly under the control of the Verso Paper Mill, which closed in 2014. Historically, sometimes, the mill withdrew water from the Narramissic River at the outlet of Alamoosook Lake and pumped it to Silver Lake in Bucksport via a pipeline (aqueduct). Silver Lake water was used by the mill for power generation (~200,000 gallons per day) and processing water (15-17 million gallons per day), and by Maine Water Company to provide drinking water to the Bucksport area (250,000 gallons per day average use, with rights to 1 million gallons per day) [Source: Maine Water].

The current mill owners (AIM) now own Alamoosook and Toddy Pond dams, the Orland Pump House (at Upper Falls), the pipeline to Silver Lake, the dam on Silver Lake, and all the water rights the mill held in both Orland and Bucksport. The future of the mill, and related water use, is uncertain at this time. If the power plant at the former mill was restarted, there could be potential for significantly greater use of water from Silver Lake and possibly the Narramissic River.

Maine Water, which supplies drinking water to Bucksport, retains full legal rights to draw water from Silver Lake for public drinking water supply. Under current conditions, water is not being withdrawn from the Narramissic River/Alamoosook Lake to supplement the supply. Pumping would resume only if Silver Lake’s water level diminished drastically, for example if there was a severe drought. During some summers in the past, there were times when virtually no water was released from Alamoosook and Toddy, so Narramissic River only carried what came in from the rest of the watershed, including tributaries like Whites Brook and Duck Cove Brook [Source: Town of Orland Dam Committee].

It remains unclear what will happen to these assets as the present owner AIM looks to redevelop the mill site in Bucksport. Both the Alamoosook and Toddy Pond dams are critical to maintaining the lakes and the numerous shore front properties in not only Orland but extending into the towns of Penobscot, Blue Hill and Surry.

Unless AIM sells the Bucksport Mill site to some industry that needs significant water supply, they could abandon or give away the dams and water rights. These are all unknowns but they have the possibility to impact the Town of Orland in the future. The Town of Orland could find itself the owner/operator of two more dams.

Groundwater wells in the vicinity of the Narramissic River are mostly deep bedrock wells that intercept groundwater from uphill areas and are not directly connected to the river.   The most likely wells to be affected by dam removal are shallow or “dug” wells.  Since seawater is already overtopping the dam during some high tides, dug wells may already be impacted already. Approximately five residents and businesses along the impoundment area pump water directly from the river and these water supplies would be addressed as part of a dam removal project.