NH's Coastal Waters Impaired By Pollution!

01 July 2010

The Sandpiper - June 2010
The Official Monthly Newsletter of the New Hampshire Coastal Protection Partnership

NH's Coastal Waters Impaired By Pollution!

Under the Clean Water Act, New Hampshire's Department of Environmental Services is required to submit a list of all surface waters in the state that are impaired by pollution to the EPA every two years. This is one of those years and the list NHDES has submitted to the EPA designates a number of our coastal surface waters as impaired for nitrogen pollution, including:

Bellamy River                        Cocheco River               Great Bay                        Crommet Creek

Lamprey River                      Little Bay                         Little Harbor                  Salmon Falls Rivers

Oyster River                           Pickering Brook            Piscataqua River          Squamscott River

Experts fear that nitrogen pollution is contributing to the overall decline of vital coastal habitats like the Great Bay Estuary. Adult oyster populations in Great Bay declined by more than 92 percent between 1997 and 2009. Eelgrass biomass in the estuary decreased by 64 percent from 1990 to 2008. There's no question about – our coastal environment is in trouble!

NH Coast has been working to reduce run-off nitrogen pollution in the Great Bay Estuary through our innovative  N-Balance, Rain Barrel, and Community Rain Garden Programs, as well as the New Castle Nitrogen Reduction Campaign. You can help!

Click here to visit our website and become a member of NH Coast for as little as $20 today!

This cute little Bufflehead duck loves to munch on eelgrass, an aquatic plant that is rapidly disappearing from New Hampshire's coastal surface waters. Become a member of NH Coast and help us save the coastal habitats that the Bufflehead and many other species call home!

NH Coast in the news:

Fundraiser for Community Rain Garden Projects - Seacoast Online, June 14

Tips to keep Great Bay Estuary Clean - Foster's Daily Democrat, May 30

Community Rain Garden Program:

LJH Landscape has been contracted to help NH Coast install demonstration rain gardens in New Castle and Portsmouth this year! Owner Luke Hydock graduated from UNH with a degree in horticulture in 1997. Luke prides himself on practicing a sustainable approach to landscaping and will be bringing his expertise in the areas of native plant materials and cultivation to bear as he brings the art of rain gardening to the Great Island Commons and Portsmouth Recycling Center!

Special thanks is again due to Joseph Percechino of Appledore Enginnering, as well as to Bill Steward and Beth Humes of the New Castle Conservation Commission. These individuals have volunteered their time and energy to help make our rain gardens a reality!

We're looking for some green thumbs to help us plant our rain gardens. Interested? Contact Dave at info@nhcoast.org

Want to learn more about rain gardens?

Use this link to buy this book and up to 15% of your purchase will be donated to NH Coast!

Current Community Rain Garden Program sponsors:

New Castle Nitrogen Reduction Campaign

NH Coast hosted an educational workshop on board the Gundalow Company's Captain Edward H. Adams. The goal of the workshop was to provide local residents with the information they need to make estuary friendly decisions about lawn fertilization, a source nitrogen pollution in the Piscataqua River and the rest of the Great Bay Estuary. Thanks to brave souls who braved the rain! NH Coast was also on hand for New Castle Day on June 11. Project Coordinator David Anderson did a tour of UNH's Coastal  Marine Lab and was introduced to the wolf fish, which looks kind of like an eel with bad teeth:



NH Coast is looking for volunteers to help us distribute brochures describing how to make estuary friendly decisions about lawn fertilization in New Castle. Interested? Email Dave at info@nhcoast.org

New Castle Nitrogen Campaign sponsors: