PREP Reports & Publications

Abstract

This document introduces the goals, background and primary elements of an Integrated Plan for the Lower Exeter and Squamscott River in the Great Bay estuary in southern New Hampshire. This Plan will support management of point (wastewater treatment plant) and nonpoint sources in the communities of Exeter, Stratham and Newfields. The Plan also identifies and quantifies the advantages of the use of green infrastructure as a critical tool for nitrogen management and describes how collaboration between those communities could form the basis for an integrated plan. The Plan will help communities meet new wastewater and proposed stormwater permit requirements. Critical next steps are need before this Plan will fulfill the 2018 Nitrogen Control Plan requirements for Exeter and proposed draft MS4 requirements for both Stratham and Exeter. These next steps include conducting a financial capability assessment, development of an implementation schedule and development of a detailed implementation plan. The collaborative process used to develop this Plan was designed to provide decision makers at the local, state and federal levels with the knowledge they need to trust the Plan’s findings and recommendations, and to enable discussions between stakeholders to continue the collaborative process.

This Plan includes the following information to guide local response to new federal permit requirements for treating and discharging stormwater and wastewater:

  • Sources of annual pollutant load quantified by type and community;

  • Assessment and evaluation of different treatment control strategies for each type of pollutant load;

  • Assessment and evaluation of nutrient control strategies designed to reduce specific types of pollutants;

  • Evaluation of a range of point source controls at the wastewater treatment facility based on regulatory requirements;

  • Costs associated with a range of potential control strategies to achieve reduction of nitrogen and other pollutants of concern; and

  • A preliminary implementation schedule with milestones for target load reductions using specific practices for specific land uses at points in time;

  • Recommendations on how to implement a tracking and accounting program to document implementation;

  • Design tools such as BMP performance curves for crediting the use of structural practices to support nitrogen accounting requirements; and

  • Next Steps for how to complete this Plan.

Department

Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership

Publication Date

12-30-2015

Document Type

Report

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