BANGOR DAILY NEWS • April 21, 2025
Ellsworth did not meet the requirements for testing its public drinking water for lead and copper between January 2022 and December 2024, it said in a letter to water department customers earlier this month. While the city did collect water samples twice during a recent three-year period, it was unable to get those samples formally tested for the metals. On one occasion, a box of water samples that the city had sent off for testing at a lab in Auburn were “squished causing the sample bottles to open.” More samples that were collected later in another attempt were delayed too long in getting to the same lab, and so were too old to test by the time they arrived, he said. Because those issues prevented the city from testing for lead and copper in its drinking water, it sent out the notice to the water department customers and is getting its water tested again.