Public Forum To Discuss NH Seacoast Wastewater Management Study March 7 At Red Hook Brewery

Contact: Kirsten Weir
NH Sea Grant
(603) 749-1565
kweir@ceunh.unh.edu

Feb. 14, 2005



DURHAM, N.H. – The N.H. Marine Coalition will host a forum Monday, March 7, to discuss the Seacoast Region Wastewater Management Study. The meeting will be held from 9 a.m. to approximately 4 p.m. in the Red Hook Brewery Ale Maker’s Hall.

New Hampshire’s seacoast is one of the fastest growing regions in the state. The area’s expanding population, combined with increasingly stringent federal pollution discharge limits, is putting enormous pressure on the region’s 17 municipal wastewater plants. The state created the Great Bay Estuary Commission to study the feasibility of building a wastewater outfall that would deliver treated sewage from 44 coastal communities into the Gulf of Maine.

Stakeholders interested in the health of New Hampshire’s marine resources, and those dependent on the marine environment for their livelihood and recreation, are concerned about the possible environmental effects of dumping up to 30 million gallons of treated sewage daily into the Atlantic Ocean.

The forum will offer a venue to exchange information, present alternatives and inform the public about the progress of the outfall study. Presenters and panelists will include Bob Scherfe, project manager for Metcalf & Eddy, the engineering firm that is performing the wastewater study; Judith Peterson, coastal resources specialist at the MIT Sea Grant Center for Coastal Resources and a member of the team that has monitored the Boston wastewater outfall for 12 years; and Nancy Girard, a vice president of the Conservation Law Foundation. Other presenters and panelists include recreational and commercial fishermen, members of conservation organizations, marine scientists, educators and decision makers.

The forum is open to the public and requires a $10 registration fee. Coffee and light refreshments will be provided, as well as lunches for those attendees who pre-register. For more information or to register, please contact Rollie Barnaby or Gail Ramsey at 603-679-5616 or gramsey@ceunh.unh.edu.

The NH Marine Coalition is a multistakeholder nonprofit organization that includes representation from UNH Cooperative Extension/NH Sea Grant. The Coalition’s purpose is the conservation, enhancement and sustainable use of the marine resources in the Western Gulf of Maine.