New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services - Water Supply Land Protection Grants

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1 New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services - Water Supply Land Protection Grants

2 A 1998 report by the Society for the Protection of NH Forests (SPNHF) found: Only 12 % of the NH land that contributes water to public drinking water supplies are permanently protected. 39% of community water systems do not own the sanitary protective radius ( ) around their wells.

3 In 2000, NH adopted legislation to create the DES Water Supply Land Protection Program.

4 DES Water Supply Land Protection grants fund up to 25% of the cost to acquire land or conservation easements to protect community drinking water supplies.

5 A Match Can Be: A donated interest in land; A local appropriation; Other grants state, federal, private; A bargain sale of the property; Drinking Water State Revolving Loan Fund; Transaction costs including legal fees, etc.

6 The land must be: - within a designated source water protection area for a public water supply; and - by project completion, permanently protected through a conservation easement or deed restrictions.

7 Typical Restrictions Groundwater/surface water may be withdrawn on a sustainable yield basis. Agricultural and Forestry must use Best Management practices. Passive Recreation hiking, cross-country skiing, bicycling, non-motorized recreation, hunting and fishing.

8 A 2002 study by the TPL and the AWWA looked at 27 surface water supplies and found that for every 10% increase in forest cover in the drinking water source area, treatment and chemical costs decreased approximately 20%.

9 A 2005 report by the U.S. Geological Survey, with support from NH DES, showed that when impervious surfaces increased in a corridor around a stream, turbidity also increased.

10 In 2009, NH adopted legislation to expand eligibility and added riparian buffers as a criteria to rank applications. Previously, only municipalities and non-profit water suppliers could apply now land trusts may also be applicants. Previously, only existing or soon to approved sources were eligible now grant can fund a valuable future water supply - a favorable gravel well area.

11 The DES Water Supply Land Grant Program is typically funded by biennial appropriations from the NH Legislature. $ $ $ $ $ $

12 By 2010, over $ 6.7 million in Water Supply Land Protection grants had been awarded to protect over 5,000 acres of critical water supply lands. However, there has been no new funding allocated by the NH Legislature since 2007.

13 A 2010 SPNHF Report stated that: Only 13% of designated drinking water source protection land was protected from development. Studies in NH Seacoast Region have projected a 54% increase in demand by 2025.

14 Area of mapped sand and gravel aquifers is only (805,000 ac) 14 % of NH s land area. Only (85,000 ac) 11% of that aquifer area is suitable for large community wells. Only 22% of this 85,000 ac is permanently protected.

15 Almost 20,000 acres of land over NH aquifers was converted from natural land cover to urban land uses from

16 In 2000s there was a great deal of negotiations between US EPA, US DOT, ACOE, NH DOT, and NH DES re: I-93 widening project in southern NH.

17 DES Wetlands Permit for I-93 widening included comprehensive wetlands mitigation wetlands creation and preservation, surface water quality, and drinking water source protection.

18 One of the factors driving the drinking water protection portion of the mitigation was concerns over elevated chloride levels in water caused by road salt.

19 One of the factors driving land protection was concerns over increased development pressure in the area of the highway widening.

20 During , much of new housing construction has been concentrated in the lower Merrimack River Valley from Concord to Nashua.

21 In 2010, NH DES and NH DOT signed a memorandum of understanding to fund the water supply land protection grant program with $3 million from DES wetlands mitigation related to the I-93 expansion in southern New Hampshire. $ $ $ $ $ $

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23 References SPNHF, 1998, Our Drinking Water Supply Lands in New Hampshire: How Secure are They? SPNHF, 2010, NH s Changing Landscape: Population Growth and Land Use Change in the Granite State, TPL, 2002, Protecting the Source: Land Conservation and the Future of America s Drinking Water, %202011/agenda/Tuesday/protecting_the_source_04-1.pdf USGS, 2005, Effects of Urbanization on Steam Quality at Selected Sites in the Seacoast Region in New Hampshire, ,

24 For more information: Holly Green DES Drinking Water and Groundwater Bureau Water Supply Land Protection Grant Coordinator (603) or web page at: dwspp/land_acqui/index.htm