Improvements in water quality and years of advocacy from local groups had many hopeful the Maine Department of Environmental Protection would recommend upgrading the lower Androscoggin River’s water quality classification. However, the department has once again posited to the Maine Legislature not to make the upgrade, at least not under the state’s current water quality standards.

DEP officials presented their findings from Maine’s Triennial Review Water Quality Standards, a federally required assessment of state water quality. Though the stretch of river from Rumford to Lisbon Falls is Class C, it appears to meet the criteria for a higher B classification.

But the DEP said it is bound by a strict legal interpretation, that the river must meet Class B standards 100% of the time, not 99.9%.

“There’s probably no river that meets it 100% of the time,” said Peter Rubins, a reclassification supporter and a board member for Grow L+A. “Floods, droughts — things happen. But that’s their rule, and they won’t budge.”

The state’s classification system ranges from Class D to Class AA. Class AA waters require the highest protection; Class A waters are suitable for treated drinking water, fishing, recreation and industrial use; Class B waters protect habitat for fish and other aquatic life, and are suitable for recreation, navigation and agricultural/industrial use; Class C waters are considered suitable for navigation, industrial processes and cooling water supply.

DEP relies on modeling that assumes worst-case conditions like droughts and industrial discharge loads, scenarios that rarely happen, Rubins said.

“The paper companies aren’t operating at maximum load. They’ve got a 50% buffer,” he said. “But the model assumes they are.”

While DEP may not be recommending the reclassification advocates seek, it is proposing an adjustment to the Class B definition that could pave the way for change. If the Legislature adopts the revised standard, parts of the river, particularly the stretch from Gulf Island Pond in Lewiston to the Worumbo Dam in Lisbon, would likely qualify.

Androscoggin River Watershed Council’s Fergus Lea said DEP staff appear to have considered the reclassification request seriously, but the agency was simply bound by the legal requirement to apply the current definition of Class B.

“The lower Andro probably meets the new proposed standard,” Lea said, “But their recommendation has to be based on the current one. That can be corrected through legislation.”

Lea said a lack of nutrient information limited the agency’s ability to make a stronger case for reclassification. That’s something he and others hope to fund ahead of the next review.

City officials in Lewiston are urging the state to make changes to the Class B standards. In a letter submitted June 24, Nate Libby, Lewiston’s director of Economic and Community Development, asked DEP and the Board of Environmental Protection to recognize unique conditions in that section of the river and support a reclassification effort.

Libby wrote in an email Wednesday to the Sun Journal that an upgrade in river classification supports Lewiston’s desire for improved water quality and habitat along with enhanced community image and development opportunities.

“Advocates for an upgrade have provided Maine DEP and the Board of Environmental Protection years’ worth of data that supports classification upgrade, and it appears there’s an honest disagreement between the DEP and stakeholders on the interpretation of state statute,” Libby said pointing to state statute 38 M.R.S.A. § 464 (F)(4).

The statute says when the quality of classified water exceeds minimum standards of the next highest classification, “that higher water quality must be maintained and protected.” Libby said several years of sampling data supports an upgrade and that he urges the BEP to consider that evidence in their review.

“The class upgrade is as much about image as it is memorializing and locking in the progress that’s been made,” he wrote. “Ultimately, the Legislature will have the final say, and regardless of the outcome of this regulatory proceeding, it is clear that our stretch of the Androscoggin, once one of the most polluted in the country, has made a remarkable comeback. Lewiston is proud to show off our historic riverfront, and residents, visitors and investors are taking notice.”

Many, including Rubins, say the data supporting a reclassification is already there. Water quality testing by volunteers and Androscoggin River Watershed Council members shows the river consistently meets Class B dissolved oxygen standards, just not 100% of the time.

“The Clean Water Act is supposed to reflect what’s actually happening on the ground,” Rubins said. “What DEP is doing doesn’t reflect that.”

Rubins suspects politics may be part of the reason. “I think it’s about keeping industry’s options open,” he said. “They used to say ‘fish or jobs.’ That might still be the mindset.”

The DEP will continue accepting public comments on the Triennial Review through June 30. Following that, the department will finalize its recommendations and submit them to the U.S. EPA and the Legislature.

Rubins said advocates are already thinking about their next steps. The first will be to conduct new biological testing, one of the three key metrics used by DEP to determine classification, along with dissolved oxygen and bacteria levels. If the additional data checks out, he hopes the BEP, which will review the recommendations this fall, may take a different view than DEP.

“There are more open minds on the board,” Rubins said. “They’re retired engineers, professors — people with real-world experience who can see the bigger picture.”

He said Lewiston has already sent a letter in support, and he expects Auburn to follow. Business groups, including the Lewiston Auburn Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, have also endorsed the change.

“This isn’t just about water chemistry,” Rubins said. “It’s about the future of the river, and what it means for our communities.”