CONGRESSIONAL RECORD -- SENATE
June 15, 1967
Page 16069
MAINE COMMUNITIES ESTABLISH EFFECTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL PLAN
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, the scenic St. John Valley area of Maine has long been a Mecca for sportsmen and campers as well as valuable farmland. Unfortunately, unsightly waste-disposal areas too often have marred the landscape and have contributed to soil and water pollution in this rural region. An article in the June 1967 issue of Soil Conservation, the publication of the Soil Conservation Service of the Department of Agriculture, shows how noteworthy progress toward alleviation of these conditions can be made through effective intergovernmental cooperation under the Department's programs.
In the article "Conservationists Take a Hand in Sanitary Waste Disposal," the Service notes how the St. John-Aroostook resource conservation and development project has involved a dozen towns in the area in using Federal technical assistance and financial support to relocate the waste-disposal sites.
I think that we can all benefit from the example the citizens of these northern Maine communities have in preserving the area's unique beauty and its water and soil resources. I wish to commend their initiative in the institution of this locally organized and operated program.
Therefore, Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that this article be printed in the RECORD.
There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:
CLEANING UP THE TOWN DUMP -- CONSERVATIONISTS TAKE A HAND IN SANITARY WASTE DISPOSAL
Town dumping grounds may never become tourist attractions, exactly, but there's proof that they can be changed into centers of conservation interest.
This has happened in northern Maine where waste-disposal areas concern local sponsors of the St. John-Aroostook Resource Conservation and Development Project. Leaders of more than 30 townships within the project boundaries plan to use modern land and water science in relocating old dumps and locating new ones on suitable soils.
A dozen towns have secured on-site soil, engineering, and plant material information to help insure that future dumping will avoid unsightliness and pollution of water supplies. The assistance is a part of broadened aid being offered to town planning bodies by the Soil Conservation Service at Presque Isle, Fort Kent, and Houlton in the RC&D area.
Dump improvement is 1 target of 50 measures designed to protect and capitalize the beauty and economic potential displayed by nearly 3 million acres in U.S.A.'s northernmost farming, timber, and vacation country.
Signs that dumps respond to conservation management are visible at communities such as Allagash, Eagle Lake, Sinclair, Frenchville, and Van Buren -- amid scenery long popular with hunters, fishermen, and campers in Upper Aroostook County.
Until recently, a local practice was to dump refuse into sand and gravel pits and on streambanks. The porous soils too readily released contamination affecting nearby streams, lakes, and ground water. Many homes in the project area use driven wells and springs. Health, as well as sport-fishing and scenic values, were endangered.
Taking a fresh approach, SCS soil conservationists have outlined alternative areas of soils more suitable for town dumps. Newer installations are located on recommended loamy soils and on side roads where they do not offend the eye. The loams filter out most of the obnoxious pollutants as waste water drains slowly through the soils.
Other conservation techniques applied to the modernized dumps include the time-tested practice of contouring. Trenches to receive wastes are dug along contour levels laid out by SCS technicians. Trash materials are later covered by soil borrowed from additional trenching dug at the next contour elevation uphill. The result is a terraced effect making it easier to establish screening and beautification plantings of grass, shrubs, and trees.
Diversion channels and water-spreading devices are installed as needed, to keep dumps from eroding, flooding, and otherwise threatening community health and safety. Dikes are sometimes built to retain all dump water on site. However, all conservation assisted disposal areas are now planned so that their drainage should not adversely affect other watershed resources.
Northern Maine, like other attractive rural areas, feels the impact of commerce and industry, along with attendant home site and tourist developments. Waste of all kinds is a growing problem. Costs of disposal creep upwards. Current surveys show good dump soils are often found on good farmland worth up to $200 an acre.
As a Van Buren civic leader described the Situation, "We can face the costs; but we couldn't go on facing the puzzle of not knowing what to do next. We're many steps ahead of the game, now. With our dump sites inventoried we can plan 25 -- maybe 50 -- years ahead. That's a lot better than shopping around for a new dump just about every time a town meeting rolled around."