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Water Quality

Siltation into the Lamprey River after a storm event. Photo by Richard H. Lord.

Background

Clean water in the Lamprey River is central to LRAC’s vision for the river corridor. In diverse ways, many of the LRAC’s efforts are aimed at maintaining and/or improving the river’s current high quality of water.With the support of the LRAC, the Lamprey River Watershed Association (LRWA), assisted by the New Hampshire State Volunteer River Assessment Program (VRAP), has conducted water quality monitoring over the past six years. Studies have also been done by UNH and NHDES. Recently, the LRWA monitoring has been extended to the length of the entire river.

The Lamprey is legislatively classified as a Class B river, and is thus managed by the NHDES under the federal Clean Water Act to maintain “fishable and swimmable” conditions. Water quality generally remains high thanks in part to the new sewage treatment plant in Epping, a significant amount of land protection, local municipal zoning ordinances that protect shorelands, and good land management by property owners. Since the Lamprey River is a source of municipal drinking water, high quality is critical to all who live in its vicinity.

Despite these efforts, problems with water quality still exist, and are the result of several factors, each of which is addressed in this Plan.

• The rapid runoff of stormwater not only erodes the banks and causes siltation, but can also carry with it agricultural waste, chemicals applied to lawns, and salt, sand and automotive pollutants washed off driveways, roads, and bridges. Land uses with predominantly pervious surfaces, where water can soak into the ground rather than running off pavement or rooftops, greatly reduce stormwater-related problems. Another problem with rapid runoff is the adverse effect on the river’s flow during dry periods. Runoff results in less infiltration into the soil, creating less groundwater to infiltrate into streams and the river. Yet another problem is that a major contributor to rapid runoff, impervious surfaces, such as pavement and roofs, can substantially increase the river’s temperature. For all these reasons, stormwater management will be a focus for the LRAC, working in cooperation with others, in the coming years.

• Lack of a vegetated buffer along the river means soils are not stabilized or protected from the impact of rain, and nutrients can be carried readily into the water, rather than being absorbed by plants and the soil. Shoreland vegetation also shades the water, maintaining cooler temperatures critical to aquatic life. Buffers can be protected by state and local regulation and by land management practices by informed landowners.

• Low river flows, especially during extreme drought, concentrate nutrients and warm the water, causing excessive algae growth. On occasion, this has caused dissolved oxygen levels in the Lamprey to drop below standards for a Class B river. Also exacerbated by low flows are the concentrations of copper and zinc which have, on occasion and in certain locations, reached levels considered harmful to aquatic and riparian life of the Lamprey. The LRAC is thus engaged in work to study ways to understand and protect the Lamprey’s instream flows.

Maintaining high water quality depends on constant monitoring, review of potentially polluting developments on shore, education of landowners (both public and private), and a readiness to work with local, state and federal regulators to prevent and address problems as they arise.

Accomplishments:

• Created brochures for landowners explaining why and how to manage riverfront lands for good water quality and wildlife habitat.

• In partnership with the Oyster River Watershed Association, Strafford Regional Planning Commission, and Strafford County Conservation District, held a series of workshops on maintaining vegetated buffers to protect the river.

• Reviewed and commented on proposed state and private development projects to assure water quality would not be degraded.

• Testified at hearings regarding upgrades to the state’s shoreland protection statute.

Goal

A high quality of water in the Lamprey River, consistently achieving or exceeding Class B standards for the health and enjoyment of all species.

Key Future Actions:

• Identify and address stormwater issues in all four towns.

  • Consult the Stream Buffer Characterization maps, prepared by UNH and the NH Estuaries Project, that show where impervious surfaces are not adequately buffered by a 300 foot vegetated strip along the Lamprey and its tributaries, and consider remedial action.

  • Partner with municipalities, developers, the state, and other organizations to promote the minimization of run-off from roads, parking lots, roofs, and driveways.

    • Minimize the increase of impervious surfaces by influencing local and state regulations.
    • Encourage local boards to require developers to use low impact design and construction methods to minimize run-off.
    • Work with the NH Department of Transportation and municipal public works departments to build and maintain roads and bridges in a way that will protect the river from salting, sanding, erosion, and run-off of automobile-related pollutants.

• Keep current on the performance of existing wastewater treatment facilities to assure the continued protection of water quality.

• Encourage towns to consider the impacts on the capacity of wastewater treatment facilities when reviewing development proposals.

• Work with the state commission that is studying alternative wastewater treatment and disposal methods for 42 coastal communities.

• Encourage consistent zoning among the four towns that promotes good water quality.

  • Track changes in zoning ordinances in the towns along the river and include the information in LRAC’s outreach publications.
  • In fulfilling the LRAC’s permit review function, help towns to assess development proposals relative to their effect on water quality.
  • Develop protocols with the municipalities and state and federal agencies to assure that the LRAC will be notified as early as possible of development proposals that could affect the Lamprey and its corridor.
• Support the water quality monitoring work of LRWA.
• Maintain the ability of floodplains and wetlands to efficiently absorb water and protect the river from run-off related pollution.
  • Assess floodplain and wetland mapping for the Lamprey corridor and determine ways to improve it, coordinating with state and federal agencies.
  • Work with town boards to inform them of the importance of floodplains for floodwater storage and encourage protection of floodplains and wetlands when considering development proposals.
  • Educate ourselves, citizens, and town officials regarding available model regulations for protecting floodplains.
• Continue to monitor erosion and seek solutions.
  • Identify and map erosion areas in the riparian buffers, floodplains, and river banks, using existing information and an on-site inventory.
  • Develop and implement a plan to correct erosion problems, focusing initially on erosion due to heavy recreational foot traffic.
  • Address the issue of illegal all-terrain vehicle use in the Lamprey corridor, and in the river itself, that causes erosion and degrades habitat.
  • Plan for recreational access that prevents erosion, including encouragement of the NH Department of Fish and Game to promote the dispersal of fishing into more areas in order to reduce erosion from overuse of existing ones.
  • Conduct a program in concert with local nurseries, developers, the county conservation districts, Natural Resource Conservation Service, and other partners to encourage:
    • planting of native riparian vegetation by landowners to prevent erosion and runoff of pollutants
    • restoration of eroded areas through collaborative funding
    • protection of restored areas with signage and creation of alternate access points.
• Investigate and eliminate sources of pollutants that have caused some sections of the river to be classified as “impaired” by NHDES.
  • Continue to support and participate in water quality monitoring through the LRWA.
  • In cooperation with LRWA, explore the benefits of using NHDES’s Assessment Unit (river segment) methodology on the Lamprey to determine whether DES testing should extend to every individual segment and see if it is meeting its water quality goals.
  • Combine water quality data from all the various monitoring efforts being conducted on the river into a 5-year report.
  • In partnership with the Lamprey River Watershed Association, UNH, and NHDES, determine the benefits of a study to examine the areas identified as impaired by heavy metals, bacteria, high nutrient levels, or low dissolved oxygen, and, if warranted, conduct such a study.
  • Based on the above study, develop a watershed pollution abatement plan.
  • Use findings of the report to promote best management practices for individuals, businesses, and government.
• Work with the National Park Service to implement its authority under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to review and place appropriate conditions upon any federal permits or projects potentially affecting water quality of the Lamprey River.
• Educate riparian landowners about the river and how to keep it healthy.
  • Update the past LRAC survey to determine landowner attitudes and practices, knowledge of the river, and their priority river issues.
  • Based on the survey, create a program that features water quality, quantity, personal responsibility, management issues, and best management practices.

    • Encourage landowners through an education campaign to reduce run-off on their property, minimize impervious surfaces, and minimize fertilizer and pesticide use.

    • Encourage landowners, municipalities, and developers to maintain vegetative buffers in order to protect the river from runoff, prevent erosion, and maintain critical water temperatures for aquatic and riparian life.

    • Encourage methods of returning water to the ground instead of running off the property, including using rain barrels and catchment basins.