BRUNSWICK

Lack of communication — and trust — is just the latest breakdown with Bay Bridge’s water system.

Residents of the mobile home park waiting for a third well to go online to address a water shortage say they’re also waiting for any information about the situation. Meanwhile, park management say blame for the closed lines of dialogue rests squarely on the tenants.

Acting members of the Bay Bridge Estates Tenants’ Association continue to reach out to the media and Brunswick Town Council to express their concern about their water.

Town Councilor Jane Millett said the council received a “concerning note” from the park’s new tenants’ association about testing that showed arsenic levels in the water.

The letter implores councilors to “not simply take someone’s word for it that the right things are being done to resolve the water shortage. Bay Bridge residents have begun placing trust in the acting board to investigate this issue thoroughly.”

That was followed by an email to The Times Record from five acting members of the association, saying there is still “a lot of confusion about the wells and that we, as residents of Bay Bridge, won’t feel safe until all the facts are known and verified by sources we can trust.”

“Arsenic has been detected in a well (as is extremely common in Maine) but we don’t have enough clarity about what is going on in the wells or what remediation will be taking place,” the email stated. “Even now, despite knowing that we are forming a tenants’ association and despite media coverage, no person from the management company has met with or contacted us in any way.”

Kevin McCarthy of Liberty Management, which owns the mobile home park, acknowledged communication between the two sides has “disappeared.” But, he said it’s not management that’s to blame.

“I really don’t know much about this tenants’ association and we’re getting some conflicting reports on how extensive it is,” he said. “We would like to hear from them. They know how to get in touch with us.”

McCarthy said management is working to improve communication by upgrading to its website and potentially creating a social media presence. He also added that the management team lives in the park and is easily accessible.

The addition of the third well to the park’s water system was deemed necessary after a water shortage that became evident in late December. That’s when park management began restricting use during off-peak times to conserve the well-fed water supply, blaming the shortage on residents who were running water continuously to keep pipes from freezing during a prolonged cold snap.

After tenants contacted media outlets and Brunswick officials, McCarthy announced park management would construct a new well to address the shortage. He later clarified that it was an existing well, which had been capped several years prior, that would be added to the system.

On Tuesday, McCarthy said the third well has been connected to the filtration system, but the state wanted additional elements added, including ferric chloride to lower the levels of arsenic in the water to acceptable levels. The delivery of that chemical was expected Tuesday.

Once that is added, the Maine Drinking Water Program will test the treated water before it is introduced to the general distribution system. McCarthy estimated that testing could take three or four days.

According to McCarthy, arsenic, which is commonly found in Maine well water, is at safe levels at Bay Bridge and at lower levels than that in Brunswick’s municipal water system.

In late January, the town hired A & L Laboratory Inc. of Auburn to conduct independent testing of water taken from various homes throughout the park as well as the water leaving the filtration system.

“We’ve confirmed that there is no reason for concern,” said Jeff Emerson, Brunswick’s health officer. “This water is safe to drink from what we’ve been told.”

The town plans to do more testing once the third well is online.

Until then, Bay Bridge management, upon the orders of the town, has been hauling in bulk water to supplement the system’s two active wells to ensure an adequate supply. Town Manager John Eldridge told councilors last week the cost of those deliveries — being paid for by park management — is about $30,000.

dmoore@timesrecord.com