NHDES Presents Awards at Source Water Protection Conference
NHDES Commissioner Bob Scott presented awards for outstanding work that improves the quality and sustainability of local drinking water resources at this year’s Source Water Protection Conference, held on May 24. The Southeast Land Trust (SELT), a leader in conserving land that protects critical water supply lands, received the Source Water Protection Award. Since 2017, SELT has been behind eight of the 35 land conservation projects (nearly one in four) funded by New Hampshire’s Drinking Water and Groundwater Trust Fund, more than any other grant recipient. Among the water systems whose sources will forever be protected by these projects are Manchester, Portsmouth, Rochester, Somersworth, Newmarket, UNH/Durham, Pennichuck, and Salem. SELT’s work to protect so many of the state’s water supplies serves as an important example for both land trusts and municipal water systems in New Hampshire.
Limiting leaks in water system infrastructure can make a significant difference to meet current and future water service demands. A great example of this is the recent work done by Emerald Lake Village District (ELVD) and Aquaman, LLC. They aggressively worked to fix 64 leaking water mains and implemented a zone metering program to improve leak detection, significantly lowering the system’s water use. Both ELVD and Aquaman were presented NHDES’ Source Water Sustainability Award to recognize their efforts to preserve the long-term availability of ELVD’s source water.
Congratulations to this year’s award winners!