NEW GLOUCESTER – On May 23, the New Gloucester Water District hooked the first home into its new 10,000-foot-long network of water mains, ending a quarter-century in which Upper Village residents have suffered from contaminated groundwater.

On June 30, government officials and Upper Village residents celebrated the arrival of a much-anticipated public water system at a formal “valve-turning ceremony” at the district’s new pump station next to the New Gloucester Fairgrounds.

“Today was just a dream 25 years ago, when those dreadful calls of, ‘My water tastes funny,’ started to trickle into town hall, and those dreadful calls that I received from then-Town Manager Bill Cooper saying, ‘We have another home with salt in the well,’ ” said longtime Selectman Steve Libby. “Thank you for your patience and your perseverance, and I quote from Galatians 6:9, ‘Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.’”

In the 1980s, 48 properties with private and commercial wells in the Upper Village along Route 100 became contaminated when gasoline leaked from underground tanks at a service station in the village. The gasoline additive benzene made the water undrinkable.

Salt also invaded the residents’ wells. The Maine Department of Transportation has operated a sand/salt shed in the village since the mid-1900s. Covered now, the salt was open to the elements for many years and leeched into the groundwater. As a result of the contamination, wells in the Upper Village had become unusable, and many residents had been unable to sell their homes.

The $2.33 million project was funded by a variety of government agencies. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development provided a $675,000 grant and an $800,000 loan, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection gave $418,812, and Cumberland County contributed $233,000 through a Community Development Block Grant. The town of New Gloucester provided $212,000, and is scheduled to pay down the $800,000 loan from the agriculture department.

At Monday’s valve-turning ceremony, Chris Swain, the innovation and assistance director for the Maine DEP, applauded the inter-agency effort.

“This was not an easy thing to do either financially or dealing with all of the partners that your town had to deal with to get this project done,” Swain said. “You think about it, town government, state government, federal government all worked together to make this happen. All of the governments came together and solved a problem. Maybe that shouldn’t be all that big an accomplishment, but I think in this day and time it really, really is.”

Aaron Shapiro, the Cumberland County Community Development Block Grant director, said that the opening of the water district could mean positive developments for the Upper Village.

“I think you’ve opened up opportunities for the future to imagine a better Upper Village here, and maybe a place with a little slower traffic, a few more businesses, and a few more residents,” Shapiro said. “What would be bad about that?”

Dianna Jordan, a 47-year resident of 83 Bald Hill Road, also attended the ceremony. Her well was contaminated with salt and benzene. As a result, her property valuation has dipped, while her electricity bills have spiked, as she paid for reverse osmosis to treat her water. Last month, that all started to change, Jordan said, when her electricity bill dropped by $30.

“This is just wonderful,” Jordan said. “Not only do I have delicious water, but I’m saving money on my light bill.”

With state and local officials waiting with cups drawn, New Gloucester Water District Chairman Steven Johnson turns the valve during Monday’s ceremonial opening of a water system serving the Upper Village. Longtime New Gloucester Selectman Steve Libby lauded the opening of the New Gloucester Water District. “Today was just a dream 25 years ago, when those dreadful calls of, ‘My water tastes funny,’ started to trickle into town hall,” Libby said at the ceremony.