Title L, Water Management and Protection

Written complaints filed with the board against a licensed water well contractor or a licensed pump installer shall be public records. The board may maintain a registry of written complaints. If such a registry is established, the board shall establish, by rules adopted pursuant …

Any payment received by the state as determined by the governor and council under the provisions of RSA 482-A:17 for the grant of the right to place fill in the bed of a great pond shall be paid over to the state treasurer and shall be available for general revenue of the state.

I. Every applicant to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for the permits and licenses, or modifications of permits or licenses, necessary for the development, construction, or reconstruction of a hydro-energy project shall place, on or prior to the date of such application,…

Words and phrases used in this chapter shall mean and be construed as follows, except where a different meaning is clearly intended from the context: I. "Classification of a dam" means the potential hazard classification placed on a dam by the department based on the potential th…

In this chapter: I. "Commissioner" means the commissioner of environmental services. I-a. "Council" means the wetlands council established in RSA 21-O:5-a. I-b. "Department" means the department of environmental services. II. "Division" means the division of water, department of …

For the purposes of this chapter: I. "Board" means the New Hampshire water well board established under RSA 482-B. I-a. "Commissioner" means the commissioner of environmental services. I-b. "Department" means the department of environmental services. II. "Person" includes an indi…

All rights, powers, privileges and franchises conferred upon any corporation, enabling it to construct and maintain milldams upon the streams of this state and to flow lands or do any other act necessary to the development of hydroelectric energy, shall terminate and be forfeited…

The petitioner for a right to place fill in public waters shall make a deposit to the department of $50 with each such petition. This payment shall be for expenses of publication, mailing and posting of notices by the department and for the expenses of hiring a hearing site, if a…

Upon the written complaint of any citizen filed with the attorney general, setting forth that any corporation has failed to commence the actual work of constructing its dam or plant during the time limited by RSA 482:20 or has failed to prosecute the same with reasonable diligenc…

I. No person shall excavate, remove, or dredge any bank, flat, marsh, swamp, or lake bed that lies below the natural mean high water level of any public waters of this state, except as provided in this subdivision. For the purposes of this subdivision, "public waters" are defined…

The provisions of this subdivision shall not affect the right of any town in any highway or bridge which the town may be liable to keep in repair, nor authorize any unreasonable interference with the use of any stream as a public highway.

The governor and council, upon petition and upon the recommendation of the department, may, for just consideration, grant to an owner of a shoreline on public waters the right to excavate, remove, or dredge any bank, flat, marsh, swamp or lake bed before the owner's shoreline. Ev…

I. The governor and council, upon petition and upon the recommendation of the department, may grant to the governing body of a municipality the right to remove submerged logs from the portion of the bed of any great pond that is located within the municipality's boundaries as del…

The necessary repairs on a mill, milldam or flume owned by joint tenants, or tenants in common, or owned in severalty when the privilege of the water is owned jointly or in common, shall be made by the owners in proportion to their respective interests in such structures.

Any person who violates any provision of this subdivision shall be guilty of a misdemeanor if a natural person, or guilty of a felony if any other person. Any person may be compelled to return said land to its original condition by the superior court upon a petition brought by th…

I. When in the opinion of the owner of any part or share of a mill, milldam or flume it is necessary that it be rebuilt or repaired, and the other part owners neglect to rebuild or repair the same, he may apply, by petition in writing, to the selectmen of the town in which it is …

Any payment received by the state as determined by the governor and council under the provisions of this subdivision shall be paid over to the state treasurer and shall be deposited in the general funds of the state.

The selectmen shall appoint a time and place of hearing, and notify all persons interested by causing a copy of the petition and notice of the time and place appointed to be served in hand or by certified mail, return receipt requested to each such person, if known and residing i…

The petitioner shall make a deposit of $50 with each petition to pay for the expenses of publication, mailing, and posting of notices, and for the expenses of hiring a hearing site, if a hearing outside of Concord is necessary. If these expenses are more than $50, the department …

The selectmen shall personally examine the premises, hear all persons interested, and, after consultation with the department, if they are of the opinion that the mill, milldam or flume ought to be rebuilt or repaired, they shall, by writing under their hands, order the owners to…

I. No person shall construct any structure suitable for use as a dwelling if the structure or any part of the structure extends beyond the shoreline of any public water or publicly-owned water body. II. No person shall convert or modify any existing structure in order to make the…

I. Any boathouse constructed after July 1, 2025, and located over public waters shall not exceed a structural height of 18 feet, have no second floor, and minimize storage to accommodate only those items, such as life-jackets, paddles, and rigging, reasonably related to the use o…

If any person interested neglects to comply with the order, any one or more of the others may rebuild or repair his part or share; and the cost of such repair or reconstruction, upon notice, shall be determined and certified by the selectmen, with their charges for the service, a…

Any person who violates any provision of RSA 482-A:26 or 482-A:26-a shall be required to remove the structure or portion of the structure constructed, reconstructed, repaired, converted, or modified in violation of said section and shall be subject to the civil, criminal, and oth…

If the owners of such mill, milldam or flume have made a special contract in respect to rebuilding or repairing the same, the decision of the selectmen concerning apportionment of costs shall conform to the contract. This section shall not limit the extent of repairs deemed neces…

In lieu of other forms of compensatory mitigation, the department may accept payment for an unavoidable loss of aquatic resource functions and values from impacts to resources protected under this chapter.

I. Any person proposing to erect a dam or to increase, by flashboards or permanently, the height of any existing dam for any of the purposes provided in RSA 482:17 shall file an application for a permit with the department, setting forth the location, height and description of th…

I. There is hereby established the aquatic resource compensatory mitigation fund into which payments made under this subdivision shall be deposited. The fund shall be a separate, nonlapsing fund continually appropriated to the department to be used only as specified in this subdi…

I. (a) No person shall excavate, remove, fill, dredge, or construct any structures in or on any bank, flat, marsh, or swamp in and adjacent to any waters of the state without a permit from the department. Unless otherwise specified in rules adopted by the commissioner pursuant to…

The commissioner is authorized to: I. Provide technical assistance to the division of economic development, department of natural and cultural resources when the division requests such assistance in the promotion or development of a hydro-energy project. II. Continue and extend t…

I. There is created a board to be known as the New Hampshire water well board. The water well board shall be administered by the commissioner of environmental services. The board shall consist of 6 members who are residents of the state, appointed by the governor with the advice …

I. Upon receipt of a petition, the department shall fix a time and place for hearing the petition and shall issue an order of notice to all parties interested, which shall be published for 3 successive weeks in some newspaper in the county in which the dam is to be erected or is …

For freshwater and tidal wetlands losses, the in lieu payment shall be the sum of: I. The cost that would have been incurred if a wetland of the same type was constructed at the ratios adopted by the department based on a price of $65,000 per acre of wetland created, to be adjust…

For stream or shoreline resource losses, the in lieu payment shall be the sum of: I. The cost that would have been incurred if a stream of the same type was restored at the ratios adopted by the department, based on a price of $200 per linear foot of channel or bank impacts or bo…

For losses to sand dunes, undeveloped portions of duly-established 100-foot buffers of designated prime wetlands, and undeveloped tidal buffer zones, the in-lieu payment shall be the sum of: I. The cost that would have been incurred if a resource of the same type was restored at …

The department shall, after hearing, determine whether it will be of public use and benefit to grant the rights asked for, and in such determination, shall give due consideration to the effect upon scenic and recreational values and upon fish and wildlife and upon the natural flo…

The commissioner shall adopt rules under RSA 541-A relative to: I. Identification of appropriate situations under which in lieu payments may be made. The criteria in RSA 482-A:28 shall be the minimum requirements for projects eligible for in lieu payments. II. The method of calcu…

No other dam shall be erected to the injury of any proposed dam or any proposed increase in any existing dam which, in either case, has been found to be for the public good by the department pursuant to this subdivision, if the petitioner shall, within 3 years after such finding …

I. There is established a site selection committee for the purpose of identifying projects to be funded from the aquatic resource compensatory mitigation fund. II. The committee shall consist of the following members: (a) The commissioner of the department of environmental servic…

If the land of any person shall be overflowed, drained or otherwise injured by the use of any dam or addition to such dam and the damage shall not, within 30 days after due notice of such damage, be satisfactorily adjusted by the party erecting or maintaining the dam or increase …

The department shall submit a biennial report 60 days after the close of each odd-numbered fiscal year, to the fiscal committee of the general court, the chairperson of the house resources, recreation and development committee, and the chairperson of the senate environment and wi…

The petition shall set out the title and description of the premises damaged, the right by reason of which the grievance arises, the location of the dam and the extent of the damages that the dam or dam addition has or may have occasioned.

Any individual or public or private entity may establish a wetland mitigation bank, provided such bank complies with all federal and state regulations and all requirements of the Army Corps of Engineers.

The court, after notice to all persons interested, shall, unless the parties agree upon the judgment that shall be rendered, refer the petition to a committee of 3 disinterested persons to be appointed by the court to determine in relation to the matters set forth in the petition…

The commissioner shall regulate the cutting of native aquatic vegetation on submerged lands in public waters or public-owned water bodies regulated under RSA 482-A:16. The commissioner shall adopt rules to effect the requirements of this section in furtherance of the purpose enum…

The committee shall give such notice to the parties as shall be ordered by the court, shall hear the parties, view the premises, estimate the damages and make a report to the court at the next term of the court.