The Municipal EcoLink is a monthly e-bulletin designed to inform you of the latest environmental ideas, trends, grants, rules and more from the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES). We respectfully request that the following is electronically distributed or otherwise made available to your municipal committees, councils and boards. Please feel free to post it on your municipal website as well.

Operating public water systems has always been incredibly complex and is often taken for granted by the general public. Obtaining public support to fund routine operations, improvements for aging infrastructure, public communication when occasional water quality issues arise and ensuring water systems reliably provide an adequate quantity and quality of water has always been a tall order but drinking water professionals have met the challenge.

Brenda Leonard joined the DWGB in the Sustainability Section as the emergency planning and security program coordinator. Brenda will be managing the cybersecurity funding programs, reviewing emergency plans and providing resources to water systems to help them prepare for any type of emergency event.

The Leak Detection Survey Grant had another productive year in 2023. Through a competitive bid process, New England Water Distribution Services, LLC was hired by NHDES to complete leak detection surveys at 47 community water systems. The systems were a mix of different types—from condominium associations to manufactured home parks to municipal systems—and ranged in size from serving 30 people to 44,000 people. In total, over 750 miles of systems’ distribution networks were surveyed.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination continues to impact drinking water supplies throughout New Hampshire, even in rural areas far from known release sites. Since 2021, NHDES’ Drinking Water and Groundwater Bureau (DWGB) has been conducting statewide investigations of lesser-known sources of PFAS. The findings of these investigations, and the regulatory changes that result, will aid in protecting drinking water sources in the state, particularly in communities with onsite drinking water and wastewater disposal systems.

It’s the time of year when the sounds of snowplows greet you in the morning after an evening snowfall. You look out at your snowy driveway, put on your winter gear, grab a shovel and a bag of de-icing salt, and head outside to clear the snow and ice.

Just before Thanksgiving, the NHDES Instream Flow Program, assisted by members of the White Mountain Swiftwater Rescue Team, conducted the program’s most ambitious streamflow station installation to date, countering the Swift River’s high energy and wide range of flows by approaching the site from the side of a 35-foot cliff. 

An accident in late November involving an oil transport tanker truck threatened to contaminate nearby Stag Hollow Brook, but thanks to the combined efforts of emergency response crews, no oil impacts have been observed in the surface water to date. 

Editor’s Note: The following article is an update to a previous EPA article.