CARIBOU, Maine — In light of the Caribou ACAP center receiving a statewide honor for the best tasting filtered water in the state, ACAP hosted a party for staff and children at the facility on Jan. 16.
Russell Plourde, who owns RP Water Quality Monitoring, LLC in Caribou, is in charge of ACAP’s Bowles Road well water. He also supervises the Caribou Utilities District, which won a statewide award for best tasting water in 2016. This year, the Maine Rural Water Association presented the award to Plourde for the water at the ACAP site. He will be traveling with Maine Rural Water Association officials to Washington, D.C., in February 2019 to compete with all of the state winners.
To celebrate the award, Katharine Putnam, a “5-2-1-0 Let’s Go!” community educator for ACAP, visited the facility and led a classroom activity and dance in which she emphasized the importance of water. The children also were treated to three varieties of the facility’s water that were flavored with fruits and vegetables.
Putnam said the program emphasizes five fruits and vegetables a day, two hours or less of screen time, one hour or more of physical activity, and zero sugary drinks in addition to more water.
“I think it’s great,” she said of ACAP’s Caribou facility winning the award. “Kids need seven cups of water a day, and anytime it tastes good they’ll want to drink it. So having the best tasting water in the state should mean they’re drinking a lot.”
Center Supervisor Jessica Bondeson said she was initially surprised by the news, as Plourde “took it upon himself to enter the contest.”
“He’s worked hard and diligently to get the water where it is,” she said. “It’s exciting that we have fresh, clean, tasty water to offer to children and staff. Water is something you can take for granted at times, and there are places without access to such great, clean water. It’s important that we share this with the kids along with why it’s important to drink water.”
Plourde said he was pleasantly surprised by the celebratory event, and that it’s the first time a facility has held a party like this because of his work.
He said the water at the Bowles Road ACAP facility goes from the well, into a canister filter, then through softener, and finally one more filter before going through a final UV filter and coming out of the tap.
“It’s rewarding,” he said. “As an operator you put a lot of time and involvement into your work. The state sets guidelines and has certain testing requirements throughout the year. It keeps a person busy, and it’s mandatory that I come here twice a week. It’s technically a part-time job, but it’s pretty much a full time part-time job.”
He shared a quote from Maine Rural Water Association Kirsten Hebert.
“After the [taste testing] event,” Plourde said, “[Hebert] stated that ‘The oversight of public drinking water is a tremendous responsibility. People have an expectation that when they open the tap, water will be plentiful, clean and safe. Adding in a statewide taste test gives us the opportunity to highlight the good work that our industry does daily.”
