What's New

October 2009

The Third Annual Lamprey River Symposium will be held FRIDAY JANUARY 8, 2010. The Annual Lamprey River Watershed Symposium is dedicated to exchanging the results of recent research on the water quality, hydrology, water resources issues, and management of the Lamprey River watershed.  The Symposium is a vehicle for researchers to share data and insights with other researchers, as well as those in the management and policy arena who would benefit from exposure to the latest research on the watershed.  A day-long program will be held at the University of New Hampshire in the Memorial Union Building (same venue as 2009 symposium). More details will be forthcoming in the next few months. 

The 2009 New Hampshire Joint Water and Watershed Conference is to be held November 20-21, 2009 at the Grappone Conference Center in Concord.

Seacoast towns are urged to be part of the pollution solution: A recent Seacoast online editorial urges New Hampshire communities to join the Southeast Watershed Alliance. Their goal is to stop the pollution of Great Bay and Hampton-Seabrook estuaries that is resulting from the population growth and the accompanying development that is taking place in this region.

Report indicates Seacoast estuaries show more pollution than in 2006: An increase in nitrogen levels and the continued threat of population growth around the Piscataqua Region have environmentalists concerned about the declining quality of Seacoast estuaries. A new report from the Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership (PREP) released Friday focuses on 11 of 12 environmental indicators that show negative or cautionary quality trends — up from seven indicators classified in the same manner in a 2006 report.

September 2009

The New Hampshire Water Resource Research Center is accepting applications for the FY 2010 Water Resource Research Center program grant (Section 104). 

Clean Water Laws Are Neglected, at a Cost in Suffering: Almost four decades ago, Congress passed the Clean Water Act to force polluters to disclose the toxins they dump into waterways and to give regulators the power to fine or jail offenders. States have passed pollution statutes of their own. But in recent years, violations of the Clean Water Act have risen steadily across the nation, an extensive review of water pollution records by The New York Times found.

In the last five years alone, chemical factories, manufacturing plants and other workplaces have violated water pollution laws more than half a million times. The violations range from failing to report emissions to dumping toxins at concentrations regulators say might contribute to cancer, birth defects and other illnesses.

Researchers finding link between cyanobacteria bloom and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS):

Did a lake trigger a deadly disease? Researchers hope to explain why Lou Gehrig's Disease seems to occur more often in people who live near lakes and ponds where cyanobacteris bloom (Boston Globe).

Dangerous Waters: Could there be a connection between blue-green algae and clusters of deadly neurological disease near lakes? (UNH Magazone).

USGS News Release: Growing demand and Climate Change Likely Means Less Water for New Hampshire's Seacoast Region by 2025. Increased demand for water and a warmer climate will likely decrease the amount of water available in the streams and aquifers of southeast New Hampshire’s Seacoast region. Summer stream flows could be 10 percent less by 2025 than they are now and groundwater levels will likely drop if demand continues to grow as projected. Climate change could reduce water supplies even further because warmer air temperatures increase evaporation and lengthen the growing season.

august 2009

Governor Lynch signs water protection laws in Dover: One of those bills — House Bill 58 — placed segments of the Cocheco River under the state's rivers management and protection program. Lynch also signed: HB 102, which extended the rivers management program to tidal portions of rivers and established the New Hampshire volunteer river assessment program; HB 290, which helps municipalities adopt regulations within zoning ordinances to manage floodplains; and Senate Bill 65, which created the Coastal Watershed Alliance to coordinate Seacoast communities to examine water quality issues.

july 2009

Results of two new studies led by USGS scientists are available in a special issue of the journal Biogeochemistry, which highlights findings from a workshop sponsored by the National Science Foundation on new approaches to modeling denitrification—an ecologically important bacterial process that converts reactive nitrogen compounds to inert nitrogen gas.

The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services announces the completion of the Exeter River Geomorphic Assessment and Watershed-based Plan. The Exeter River Local Advisory Committee (ERLAC) developed the Plan with technical assistance from the DES, Bear Creek Environmental, and Fitzgerald Environmental. The plan provides scientific information to guide local efforts to restore and protect the Exeter River.

The plan is based in the science of fluvial geomorphology, the study of how rivers and landforms interact over time through different climatic conditions. The plan identifies stable and unstable river reaches and provides site-specific management recommendations for river reaches susceptible to flooding, erosion or river channel adjustment. The plan also provides tools for managing fluvial erosion hazard zones. ERLAC is currently working to with local partners to develop and implement projects to address recommendations outlined in the plan. 

June 2009

Portsmouth neighborhood aims to reduce brook pollution: With a donation from nearby Port Inn and a grant from the federal Environmental Protection Agency through the N.H. Department of Environmental Services, a multi-year project aimed at reducing wastewater going into Hodgson Brook kicked off recently.

Humans have disrupted the Nitrogen Cycle: some new isotopic evidence from Greenland indicates that fossil fuel combustion has transformed massive amounts of nitrogen gas into nitric oxides over the last 300 years.

May 2009

Your Water, Your Wallet, Your Watershed - Why Working Together Across Town Boundaries Makes $ense for Protecting Our Water (pdf): This Lamprey River Watershed Outreach conference will address key topics of concern to the citizens and residents of the watershed towns, including stormwater, land use planning, water quality and quantity, health, community identity, culture and heritage.

April 2009

Pavement sealcoat a source of toxins in stormwater runoff: A Seacoast Online article discusses new research conducted at the University of New Hampshire Stormwater Center (UNHSC) that indicates that sealcoat may contribute to increasingly significant amounts of polyaromatic hydrocarbons entering waterways from stormwater runoff.

The NHDES has issued a press release announcing that up to $650,000 is available through the Aquatic Resource Mitigation (ARM) Fund for eligible projects within the Merrimack River Watershed. In 2007, DES adopted rules establishing the ARM Fund, which provides an in-lieu fee payment alternative for permit applicants to consider when striving to meet state and federal wetland mitigation requirements. Payments are deposited into 16 watershed accounts which then can be used for aquatic resource restoration projects or to permanently protect wetlands with high conservation value. The deadline for grant applications is June 5, 2009.

March 2009

Water Quality of Potential Concern in US Private Wells: More than 20 percent of private domestic wells sampled nationwide contain at least one contaminant at levels of potential health concern, according to a study by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).   

About 43 million people - or 15 percent of the Nation's population - use drinking water from private wells, which are not regulated by the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act. 

The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (DES) announced the draft Intended Use Plans and draft Project Priority Lists for projects funded in part through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund and the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund. The information is posted on the DES webpage dedicated to ARRA information, http://des.nh.gov/recovery/index.htm.

DES will hold a public hearing on April 3, 2009, at 9:00 am in the auditorium located at 29 Hazen Drive, Concord to present the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) and the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) draft Intended Use Plans (IUP) and draft Project Priority Lists (PPL) for projects funded in part through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Plant life threatens Lamprey River Watershed: Volunteers and officials from the Lamprey River Watershed Association will be taking aim at a persistent plant which threatens to obscure some of the scenic pathways near the region's largest tributary.

Dawn Genes, the association's director, said the invasive Japanese knotweed was noted at some 51 locations along or near the Lamprey River when dozens of volunteers conducted a shoreline survey of the river last summer. Genes said many people know that the plant had spread within southern New Hampshire, but she said the fact that it was so prevalent and thriving in so many locations is a cause for concern.

The NHDES will hold a series of evening public meetings to discuss work on a state water resources plan. The meetings consist of a one-hour presentation by DES officials regarding a recently completed report detailing the state’s water resources challenges, followed by approximately one hour of discussion. DES is conducting the meetings, with the assistance of various partner organizations and stakeholders, to inform the public and to build public involvement in the development of a state water resources plan by the legislature’s Water Resources Committee.

An estimated 1,500 gallons of diesel fuel leaked into the Souhegan River on Sunday, March 8 in Milford.

January 2009

In 2008, New Hampshire saw more precipitation than ever before: The Eagle-Tribune reports that the year saw a total of 57.99 inches of precipitation recorded in Concord, compared to 57.28 inches in 2005, the second highest annual total, according to the National Weather Service in Grey, Maine. The total was about 30 inches higher than an average year.

The NHDES Drinking Water Source Protection Program has released the Winter 2009 issue of The Source newsletter.

december 2008

New Hampshire Coastal Program Accepting Grant Applications: The New Hampshire Coastal Program (NHCP) at the Department of Environmental Services is currently accepting applications for its 2009 competitive grant round. Through federal funding, NHCP enables projects that address coastal resources, like water quality protection, education and public access. Grants are offered on a competitive basis to eligible applicants, and at least a one to one match is required.

November 2008

Metals runoff from state pier in Portsmouth exceeds federal limits: High levels of metal in storm water runoff violate the federal Clean Water Act and have raised concerns about the Market Street terminal at the Port of New Hampshire.