Passamaquoddy Water

Map of Maine's indigenous reservations

Overview of the indigenous population in Maine:

The indigenous population in Maine is robust and diverse often referred to as Wabanaki. However, it is important to note that Wabanaki is an umbrella term that refers to multiple Native American tribes in Maine. We were lucky enough to speak to members of the Passamaquaddy tribe, who maintain their residence at Sipayik, a coastal region in one of the most eastern parts of Maine, right next to the border with New Brunswick, Canada. In our conversations with Plansowes Dana, Michael-Corey Hinton, and Marvin Cling, we were able to gain insight into the challenges that the Passamaquoddy tribe faces in relation to obtaining clean, potable drinking water.

Problems with water quality

The Passamaquoddy Water District (PWD) was created in 1983, and was partially funded with money from the indigenous community in Sipayik. Despite serving more than tribal lands Michael-Corey Hinton, tribal attorney and Passamaquoddy member, speculates that the PWD has been treated differently than other water districts due to inadequate funding. This has prevented PWD from achieving its mission statement to “provide our customers with safe and clean water” (Passamaquoddy Water District). The water source, Boyden Lake, that serves the Passamaquoddy tribe is likely the root of this problem. Hinton feels that the source water that flows to Spiayik is “inadequate” which creates problems as “every issue flows from dirty water flowing in” (Hinton). The Passamaquoddy Water District continues failing to clean domestic supply sufficiently.

Photo from a Passamaquoddy member's bathtub

"For about 10 years, the water district was out of compliance with federal standards about 50% of the time" - Michael-Corey Hinton

In the early 2010s, the tribe received funding to examine other sources of drinking water. One of these sources was groundwater located on tribal lands. The tribe conducted a pump test, which would allow the community to test the quality of the water before adopting it as their water source. However, neighbors of the reservation complained that their “wells were negatively affected” as a result of the pump test decreasing well water pressure (Hinton). As a result, the town passed “a moratorium that effectively prevented the tribe from being able to pump the water on its lands” (Hinton). Hinton also stated that this moratorium is “pretty obviously unconstitutional” but the tribe “didn’t have the financial resources” to fight this claim at the time. This moratorium is still in place today.

Furthermore, Hinton’s story demonstrated the state’s ignorance in regard to the quality of the water provided to the tribe. After gaining access to water-testing capabilities, Hinton revealed that “for about 10 years, the water district was out of compliance with federal standards about 50% of the time.” Increased awareness and activism put pressure on the water district to increase the quality of water they provide to the reservation. However, the tribe still regularly tests the water quality to avoid consuming water that is deemed safe by the district but is unhealthy in reality. The lack of jurisdiction the Passamaquoddy Tribe encountered in sourcing their own water is a key component to understanding tribal sovereignty. Without pathways to control and regulate their own water source, the tribe is denied a key resource crucial to their own sovereignty.

One of the most contentious parts of the Passamaquoddy tribe’s journey toward clean, accessible water pertained to the water well at the local school. The state of Maine stated that the water from the school’s water fountains was unsafe to drink. When community members tried to remedy this by adding a new well, the state replied by saying that the Passamaquoddy tribe did not have sufficient permits and permissions to dig this new well, essentially undermining the tribe’s sovereignty to use their land as they see fit.

“As a toddler, my son kept saying to me 'we need water'” - Plansowes Dana

Problems with Reservation Water Sources:

Water has been an issue for the Passamaquoddy nation for over 40 years and while some efforts have been made to improve access to and quality of water, there are still many challenges tribe members face. Tribal attorney Michael-Corey Hinton became involved in the effort to secure a clean source of drinking water for the community at Sipayik around 2018. From a very young age, he recalls being told “don’t drink the water if you have another option” (Hinton). He reports being able to smell the water, see the water discoloration, and know that the water is above the water's contamination level. All the while, “everyone is dying of cancer” (Hinton). At one point, the water was discolored due to sedimentation entering the water supply after a large storm. In an attempt to treat the water, the water district over-saturated the water with chlorine which ended up burning people’s skin.

Passamaquoddy member getting water from spigot

The tribal leaders enlisted Hinton’s help after the water reached a low point where it turned a very nasty blue-green color. Hinton immersed himself in this project to try to help his community. Efforts included finding non-profit partners to pay community members who deliver bottled water door-to-door, identifying potential sources of clean water on the reservation territory, increasing awareness about the problem, and passing new legislation to help guarantee water sovereignty for the community.

Plansowes Dana, a Passamaquoddy community member, grew up on the Sipayik reservation. In response to the Covid-19 Pandemic and a lack of clean drinking water, she started a “colored paper” project, which took inspiration from a sister tribe in Canada. The project allowed community members to signal when or if they needed clean water by placing a certain colored piece of paper in their window. This was especially helpful for community members who were not able-bodied or did not have access to cars to obtain water themselves. Dana’s program was so successful that members of the community called her the “water goddess.” Dana drove upwards of 10 miles each way to the water source and delivered water for over two years to support her neighbors. Clearly, this is not a sustainable solution and is certainly not going to address the structural problem around clean water access.

Improvements & Legislation:

One of the short term goals of the tribe involved improving an existing well by adding an electric well head and building a heated well house around the spigot. The heated well house was especially important given the frequency of frozen pipes in Maine during the winter. This project meant people had a roadside spigot where they could access clean water. Still, there are improvements needed to increase the accessibility of the well water source. For example, environmental planner Marvin Cling shared that the area is unpaved and vehicles often get stuck in the mud.

Dana hauling water to deliver to the community

In 2022, LD 906 passed in the state of Maine, asserting that the water district will no longer have to pay property taxes (Lewis-Nash). In theory, the savings from this initiative would be used to fund the maintenance and upkeep of the Passamaquoddy Water District. The Passamaquoddy Water District was the only district in the entire state of Maine to pay property taxes prior to the ratification of LD 906.

Another significant legal victory pertained to the tribe’s ability to “restore the tribe's jurisdiction over its lands with respect to drinking water” (Hinton). Prior to this, restrictive legislative precedent was “not acceptable” due to the ways in which it undermines tribal sovereignty (Hinton). This change allowed the tribe to protect and secure access to water on the tribal property that was previously not accessible to the Passamaquaddy community.

Advocacy from the tribe encouraged upgrades to the water cleaning system, which cost around $850,000 and was financed by an emergency grant program combined with Covid-19 relief funds through the State (French). However, these upgraded systems used carbon filters which need to be replaced frequently, but there was no money to maintain these filters. Covid-19 relief funds were directed towards this project since the case was made that a lack of clean drinking water was a public health issue in relation to Covid-19. The tribe was also recently awarded $5 million through the Inflation Reduction Act that can be used to ensure clean drinking water, improve climate resilience, and expand transportation systems, amongst other things (Golden). While it is great that the tribe is starting to gain momentum in their fight for clean water, they should not have to rely on a global pandemic or extreme climate change to gain access to clean drinking water.

"A lot of people have a feeling that we don't matter...water is the most visceral way that this shows up" - Michael-Corey Hinton

Scientist-Indigenous People Relationship:

Data is an essential step in convincing policy-makers that a change is needed. When trying to report issues with the water, community members calling the water district would be told that the “water is testing fine here” (Hinton). After the chlorine incident around 2018, the Passamaquaddy tribe worked to install their own water testing protocol which revealed that the water contained more than twice the safe level of chlorine. The tribe began a relationship with Maine Health, which helped assert a correlation between water quality and health outcomes. This data was used to help support the changes in the state legislature in 2022.

Hinton was an advocate for the tribe creating their own testing protocol due to suspicions that the water district was tampering with their test results. “People don’t trust the water now, still” said Hinton, despite the new, clean source of water. When talking about the effects of unclean drinking water on the community, Hinton shared that “a lot of people have a feeling that we don’t matter” and “water is the most visceral way that this shows up” (Hinton). Similarly, Dana discussed how even her toddler was aware of the problem, and would tell her “we need water.”

Lighthouse in Pleasant Point, ME

Summary

It was both eye-opening and heartbreaking to learn about the state of water access and quality for the Passamauoddy tribe. In the past, the water source has routinely fallen below mandated federal water quality standards and has at times been carcinogenic. This has taken a toll on community members' physical well-being, with some suffering from cancer and eczema, and mental well-being, as they have invested much time and resources into fighting the government for water sovereignty. While water security for the Passamaquoddy has improved in the past few years, there is much more that needs to be done and the past injustices can not be overlooked. Hinton notes that he doesn’t want to “represent that the water is fixed,” since the community still faces issues with access.

References

Altvater, Noela. "Sipayik's Water Crisis." 15 Dec. 2021. https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/5c24385c2e9b4861b286caad15ef6398.

Cling, Marvin. Personal Interview. 16 March 2023.

Dana, Plansowes. Personal Interview. 14 March 2023.

Feinberg, Robbie. "Passamaquoddy Tribe Hopes Restores Sovereignty Will Address Longstanding Water Problems." Bangor Daily News, 22 July 2021, https://www.bangordailynews.com/2021/07/22/news/down-east/passamaquoddy-tribe-hopes-restored-sovereignty-will-address-longstanding-water-problems/.

French, Edward. "PWD water quality project set to proceed with funds in place." The Quoddy Tides, 2 March 2021, https://quoddytides.com/PWD-water-quality-project-set-to-proceed-with-funds-in-place.html.

Golden, Jared. "Maine Delegation Welcomes $5 Million to Aid Passamaquoddy Impacted by Climate Change." Jared Colden Congressman, 2 Dec. 2022, https://golden.house.gov/media/press-releases/maine-delegation-welcomes-5-million-to-aid-passamaquoddy-impacted-by-climate-change.

Hinton, Michael-Corey. Personal Interview. 17 March 2023.

Lewis-Nash, Robby. "Dirty water causes our communities to lose sight that they are worthy of clean water." Maine Beacon, 12 Oct. 2020, https://mainebeacon.com/dirty-water-causes-our-communities-to-lose-sight-that-they-are-worthy-of-clean-water/.

Lewis-Nash, Robby. “Tribal leaders seek to end decades-long ordeal, bring clean water to Pleasant Point.” Maine Beacon, 24 Sept. 2020, https://mainebeacon.com/tribal-leaders-seek-to-end-decades-long-ordeal-bring-clean-water-to-pleasant-point/.

Newell, Rena D. "LD 489 Resolution, Proposing an Amendment to the Consititution of Maine to Establish a Right to a Healthy Envrionment." House of Representatives, 8 March 2021, https://legislature.maine.gov/testimony/resources/ENR20210308Newell132596869912483908.pdf.

Passamaquoddy Water District. 2023. https://passamaquoddywater.com/.

Robbinston, Perry. “Boyden Lake.” Lake Stewards of Maine, 2023. https://www.lakesofmaine.org/data/2018_Lake_Reports/1404_1.html.

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