By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer 

NAPLES— The levels of salt in the well water at the Naples Fire Station are too high for it to be safe drinking water.  

The amount ofsalt in the H2O more than doubled in two months during the winter.

The exact cause has yet to be determined; and so far, the remedy has been to provide bottled water, according to Naples Town Manager John Hawley.

“I suspect that salt contamination has been an ongoing issue in this area. But the elevated levels that put the water supply out of safe drinking water requirements has been more recent,” Hawley said.

“On Jan. 6 the water at the fire station tested 118 parts per million (ppm). On March 15, it was 351 ppm. On March 21, it was 345 ppm; March 30 was 345 ppm,” he said. “On April 4, it was 332 ppm; and on Tuesday, it was 304 ppm.”

“It seems to be subsiding but the Maine CDC sets a limit at 20 ppm, so we have a long ways to go,” Hawley said. 

According to the Maine Center for Disease Control website, “For most healthy people a sodium level of 100 milligrams per liter will not substantially increase risk. Individuals on a low sodium diet due to high blood pressure or other health problems are restricted to water within the 20 milligrams per liter standard.” 

“High amounts of chloride are associated with contamination from salt water intrusion, septic tanks, road salting and road salt storage piles,” the website said.

That information was found on the CDC website under the topic chloride.

“Currently we are supplying bottled drinking water to the staff,” Hawley said.

“We are trying to determine the cause before we can formulate a solution,” he said. 

In the past, both the Naples Town Hall and the Naples Fire Station “have high levels of Uranium; and needed to put filtration systems in at both facilities to remediate.”