HARPSWELL, Maine — A Maine town wants the Navy to protect the clam flats as part of its remediation plan for the former Naval Air Station Brunswick.

The Harpswell Conservation Commission has argued the stormwater system that brings water from ponds at the former Navy base to Mare Brook and Harpswell Cove should be extended.

The commission told the environmental coordinator for the closure process that the Navy has an obligation to investigate the impact of the stormwater system.

The Times Record reports that an investigation of the pond system had found several heavy metals including lead, arsenic and cadmium that could potentially reach nearby clam flats.

Paul Plummer, Harpswell’s harbormaster, says the Harpswell side of the Harpswell Cove alone holds $100,000 worth in shellfish.

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Navy Times editor’s note: What this story is talking about is what used to be called the Picnic Pond System at Naval Air Station Brunswick. Before it was decommissioned in 2011, NAS Brunswick was a key base for antisubmarine warfare operations in the Atlantic Ocean, which is why several squadrons of P-3 maritime patrol aircraft flew out of there. It was designated as a Superfund site in 1987. Four years ago, another round of detailed testing found potentially dangerous metals (arsenic, cadmium, chromium, and lead), pesticides (total DDx), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOA), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH). When the Navy used the base, about 80 percent of the industrial runoff was contained by the Picnic Pond System, which actually is four interconnected water bodies, including Ponds A, B and C. Merriconeag Stream discharges into Picnic Pond at the northern end of the eastern branch and flows south through Picnic Pond to a dam at the southern end. The stream later joins with Mere Brook, which flows south into Harpswell Cover. On Oct. 1, Navy Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) issued an updated proposal to clean up or contain pollution in the ponds by 1) removing all the contaminated sediment in Ponds A and B; 2) enhanced monitoring of the natural recovery of Picnic Pond; and, 3) land use controls on Picnic Pond to prevent recreational users from disturbing a cover system.

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