AUGUSTA — State regulators Thursday issued the Paris Utility District its first license in more than a decade, easing regulations on the limit of copper discharged into the Little Androscoggin River. 

In a unanimous ruling, the Maine Board of Environmental Protection approved the license and granted a site-specific exemption from the state’s copper standard. 

Agreeing with the findings of a study contracted by the Paris Utility District, regulators said the new standards were proven to have no ill health implications for humans or aquatic life. Regulators have said previously that the permit is the third one of its kind issued in Maine since 2005. 

In its finding, the board wrote that the new regulations are based on “sound, scientific rationale,” are as protective as federal requirements and are protective of the most sensitive use of the receiving water — aquatic life forms. 

The study, which was done in conjunction with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, found the river could safely absorb higher rates before the copper molecules begin binding to fish gills. Its new monthly average of copper is set at 0.17 pounds a day, and its limit is 0.22 pounds. 

The new license and permit amend regulations dating to 2001, which set stricter limits on the concentration of copper measured in the processed water flowing from its facility. 

The Paris Utility District’s wastewater treatment plant was built in the 1970s to service the town’s industrial users and the downtown population. 

When the A.C. Lawrence Leather Co. closed its doors in 1985, the facility was left with about 1,000 residential users, and it fluctuates between 900 and 1,000 per year. 

Lacking industrial users, most of the copper coming to the facility is from brake pads, medicine, vitamins and other household products washed down drains, plant officials have said.  

According to Sun Journal archives, in 2006 the facility was unable to meet standards during testing for a new five-year license.

In 2009, the Paris Utility District board of trustees struck a consent agreement with regulators to resolve violations on toxic pollutants. It was fined and an action plan created. The agreement served as a catalyst for the facility to undergo a major overhaul: in 2010, a $10.5 million renovation was completed. 

This past spring, the district submitted a revised permit application with a request that the DEP approve new water-quality criteria. After review, the board held a public hearing in September.  

Special conditions will require operators to update regulators on changes in river flow, to conduct special tests on water fleas and brook trout and to increase the frequency of regular monitoring reports. 

The Little Androscoggin River starts in Woodstock and flows for 47 miles through Greenwood, Norway, Paris, Oxford, Mechanic Falls, Minot and Poland, joining the Androscoggin River near the Bernard Lown Peace Bridge in Auburn. 

Regulators have given the river a Class C rating, the state’s lowest for freshwater bodies. While the water quality is considered good, its margin for error before degrading from an oil spill or a drought is much lower, according to the the state’s water-quality control website. 

State scientists suspect copper levels are especially concentrated in the Little Androscoggin because of its relatively low volume and flow rate.