NEW GLOUCESTER – Selectmen set a special town meeting for Feb. 16 to vote a second time on a $2.35 million public water system for Upper Gloucester.

The meeting will be held at 9 a.m. at Memorial School on Route 231.

The first vote Jan. 14 resulted in a 116-101 vote against the project.

Town Manager Sumner Field III said Thursday the revised ordinance is based on input from two recent public forums. All changes in the revised ordinance required another round of approvals from the three funding agencies that granted a total of $1.4 million towards the project: Maine Department of Environmental Protection, Cumberland County Community Block Grant and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development agency.

The final approvals just received by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development in Washington, D.C., arrived to late to hold the vote Feb. 11, because a seven-day notice of meetings is required.

In defeating the measure last month, residents said they had insufficient information and the mandatory hook-up requirement to noncontaminated wells that had to be capped was unacceptable. And, for some, the cost of mandatory hook-up caused hardship.

Others pleaded to have the project approved for 20 private wells that have been polluted with salt and benzene since the 1980s.

The revised ordinance requires that those with contaminated wells will be hooked up to the new system and the town and Maine Department of Environmental Protection will pay for it.

Those wells that are not contaminated can use them to water gardens and fill swimming pools, as long as there is no cross-contamination with the public water system.

In the future, if the public water line is extended, a town vote for mandatory hook-up will be sought.