10/08/2026
The Boston Globe REPORT:
“It doesn’t make sense to me to extract millions of gallons of water during a drought,” said Cullen Ryan, who built a home on the pond by hand nearly three decades ago."
"He and other residents, especially those with homes on Long Pond, are so alarmed by the low water levels that they are now pressuring town officials to intervene, using the company’s effort to renew its water permit as a pressure point, to either cut back on how much it is allowed to draw, or, at the very least, get some answers."
"Longtime residents say the pond is the lowest they’ve seen in decades. They can still swim but their docks no longer sit in deep water, and aquatic plants are drying out on the shore. Some say they’ve noticed changes to the wildlife as well; the summer symphony of bullfrog calls has quieted.
"Homeowners with waterfront properties say their wells are running low or have dried up altogether."
"Some residents say it is inconceivable Poland Spring is not partially responsible for the water levels. They question the integrity of the monitoring data, much of it collected by a geologist contracted by Poland Spring."
"Denise Eldridge, 76, has just 3 inches of water in a well near Long Pond, which she says is enough only to flush a toilet, so she doesn’t dare use it for anything else. Eldridge and her husband have not stayed overnight in the vacation home in months.
She has been quoted roughly $20,000 to have a new well put in, money that would have to come out of her retirement savings.
“It almost brings me to tears,” she said. “You can’t live without water.”
"Audrey Rabinowitz, a Long Pond resident who served on the town’s water extraction review committee, said the town needs more money to conduct independent monitoring.
"The state, she added, should also study the effects of Poland Spring’s water pumping. “It’s very hard to do something like this without the expertise,” she said."
“The conversation at local and municipal levels is changing,” said Nickie Sekera, a water rights advocate. “We have to get through the corporate lobby.”
🚨 🚨 NEXT PERMIT RENEWAL PUBLIC MEETING FOR POLAND SPRING will be on Tuesday, October 13 at 6:00pm at the Denmark Town Hall at 62 East Main Street, Denmark ME. Please Attend! 🚨🚨
Read the full article by Kate Selig at the Boston Globe at the link in the comment section. Photos by Greta Rybus.
