Title L, Water Management and Protection

To insure the efficient collection and disposal of material pumped from or otherwise removed from septic tanks or other sewage storage facilities, referred to in this section as "septage," the department is authorized and directed to require the installation and operation of a se…

I. The lands and interests in lands acquired by the state or other public entity with a water supply land protection grant under this chapter shall be held in public trust and used and applied for the purposes of this chapter. Notwithstanding any other provision of law relating t…

I. (a) Authority is granted for the state of New Hampshire to participate in the federally funded state water pollution control and drinking water revolving loan funds or grants as may be provided under the Clean Water Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, or related federal legislat…

I. The commissioner of the department may impose an administrative fine not to exceed $500 for each offense upon any person who violates the reporting requirement of RSA 486-A:7, II(e). Appeals from a decision of the commissioner under this paragraph shall be in accordance with 2…

Any party found, by means of a scientific or hydrogeological study, or other evaluation as approved by the department, of the groundwaters contributing area of public wells with recorded levels of contaminants, to be responsible for contaminating a wellhead area, shall be require…

In this chapter: I. "Construction" means: (a) The installation or building of: (1) New wells or well buildings; (2) Filtration systems and associated pump stations, pump equipment, chemical treatment systems, telemetry and metering equipment, and storage tanks; and (3) Distributi…

I. (a) Any public water system which is or was required, beginning in 1986, to achieve compliance with the surface water treatment rules of the EPA or the rules of the New Hampshire department of environmental services adopted to implement the federal Safe Drinking Water Act amen…

I. The North Conway Water Precinct or any of the municipalities of Derry, Salem, Wolfeboro, Hampton, Sunapee, Rochester, Laconia or any other municipality in receipt of an order issued by the department according to its priority criteria to undertake the construction of sewage di…

I. In addition to any other state contribution provided in this chapter, the commissioner of the department, with the approval from the governor and council, may, upon review of plans submitted by a public water system and within the limits of available appropriations, pay 10 per…

The department shall not approve any contribution for surface water treatment or for the formation or improvement of a regional water system or for evaluation of contribution of groundwaters to public wells that have record levels of chemical contaminants, excluding MTBE under th…

Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, the department shall not approve any contribution under RSA 486:1 unless it shall first have determined that the applicant: I. Has adopted or will adopt a system of charges to assure that each recipient of waste treatment servi…

I. The grantee shall retain an amount of the revenues derived from the payment of costs by industrial users of waste treatment services, to the extent costs are attributable to the federal share of eligible project costs provided pursuant to this chapter as determined by the depa…

Application for payments under the provisions of this chapter shall be made in accordance with rules adopted by the commissioner under RSA 541-A, and, for surface water treatment projects and regional water system projects and evaluation of groundwaters contributing area of publi…

Application for payments under the provisions of this chapter shall be made in accordance with rules adopted by the department under RSA 541-A, and shall be based upon reports filed with the department prior to January 31 in the calendar year for which payment is being requested.…

I. Applications for state grants for surface water treatment and for regional water systems and evaluation of groundwaters contributing area of public wells with recorded levels of chemical contaminants shall contain an agreement that the applicant: (a) Has installed or will inst…

I. For surface water treatment projects, the department shall establish and maintain a priority list of projects eligible to receive grants under RSA 486-A:3. The priority list shall include the highest priority projects ready for construction and anticipated to receive grants fr…

Applications for state grants under this chapter shall contain an agreement that the applicant has installed the pollution control facilities in accordance with the plans and specifications approved by the department and will provide proper and efficient operation and maintenance…

I. For surface water treatment projects, regional water system projects, and evaluation of groundwaters contributing area of public wells with recorded levels of chemical contaminants the commissioner of environmental services or designee shall hold an annual public hearing to re…

I. The department shall perform the following functions related to the administration of the provisions of this chapter applicable to surface water treatment and to any regional water system and evaluation of groundwaters contributing area of public wells with recorded levels of …

The operators of pollution control facilities shall be certified as to their qualifications and ability to operate said facilities in accordance with rules adopted by the commissioner under RSA 541-A.

As used in this chapter: I. "Boats" means any vessel or watercraft whether moved by oars, paddles, sails or other power mechanism, inboard or outboard, or any other vessel or structure floating upon the water whether or not capable of self locomotion, including but not limited to…

If, upon said inspection it shall appear that any marine toilet, sink, or shower within or on a boat in operation on fresh waters of the state is so constructed as to permit the discharge of any sewage to a surface water of the state contrary to the provisions of this chapter, th…

Whenever the person or occupant producing a certificate of registration which is taken up for violation of this chapter is not also the registered owner, that fact shall be made known to the department of safety, division of motor vehicles, at the time of its delivery to said div…

No boat shall be operated upon any waters of this state after its certificate of registration has been taken up for violation of this chapter other than from the point at which said certificate was taken up to a permanent mooring. For violation of this section said certificate of…

Any transfer of a boat, the registration certificate of which has been suspended pursuant to this chapter, shall not operate to entitle the transferee to a new registration certificate free of the restrictions lawfully imposed under the provisions of this chapter, and any transfe…

Applications for original or renewal of certificates of registration from the department of safety, division of motor vehicles, shall contain a statement subject to the penalties of perjury that the boat described in such application is equipped in compliance with this chapter.

The general court recognizes that rapidly escalating pressures of shorefront development and recreational uses of public waters have placed increasing strains upon the state's lake resources, thereby accelerating the eutrophicationprocess in many of our public lakes through nuisa…

In this subdivision: I. "Department" means the department of environmental services. I-a. "Exotic aquatic species of wildlife" means wildlife, as defined in RSA 207:1, XXXV, that: (a) Depend on a freshwater aquatic environment; and (b) Are not naturally occurring in New Hampshire…

No exotic aquatic weeds shall be offered for sale, distributed, sold, imported, purchased, propagated, transported, or introduced in the state. The commissioner may exempt any exotic aquatic weed from any of the prohibitions of this section consistent with the purpose of this sub…

It shall be unlawful to offer for sale, distribute, sell, import, purchase, propagate, negligently transport, or introduce exotic aquatic weeds into New Hampshire waterbodies. Notwithstanding RSA 487:7, any person engaging in such an activity shall be guilty of a violation.

No person shall negligently transport any aquatic plants or plant parts or exotic aquatic weed or weed parts to or from any New Hampshire waters on the outside of a vehicle, boat, ski craft as defined in RSA 270:73, trailer, or other equipment.

I. When leaving waters of the state, a person shall drain his or her boat and other water-related equipment that holds water, including live wells and bilges. II. Drain plugs, bailers, valves, or other devices used to control the draining of water from ballast tanks, bilges, and …

I. Public boat access facility owners such as state agencies and municipalities, may provide various technologies including, but not limited to, garden hoses, cleaning tools or units, and decontamination units at their access sites for the purposes of cleaning, draining, drying, …

Notwithstanding RSA 487:7, any person who violates RSA 487:16-c through 487:16-e shall be guilty of a violation punishable by a fine of $50 for a first offense, $100 for a second offense, and $250 for any subsequent offense. The authority to enforce these sections shall extend to…

I. A program for the preservation and restoration of New Hampshire lakes and ponds eligible under RSA 487:20 shall be established and administered within the department of environmental services. Said program shall function to: (a) Limit the eutrophication process in New Hampshir…

Project approval shall be based upon prioritization factors to be established by rules adopted under RSA 541-A. Such rules shall give first priority for expenditure of available funds to the control or eradication of new infestations of exotic aquatic weeds pursuant to RSA 487:17…

No project for the implementation of a lakes restoration or preservation program shall be approved or initiated until at least 2 public hearings have been held on the project. Said hearings shall be held in one or more of the affected municipalities.

No marine toilet on any boat operated upon waters of the state shall be so constructed and operated as to discharge any sewage into said waters either directly or indirectly, nor shall any sewage or container of sewage be placed, left, discharged or caused to be placed, left or d…

To be eligible for funding under this subdivision, a body of water shall be any freshwater lake or pond which meets priorities established under RSA 487:18. Lakefront associations, private businesses, citizens and local government agencies shall be eligible to apply for funding u…

I. For diagnostic and feasibility studies where the federal government has made financial assistance available in the amount of 70 percent of the cost, the department may provide an amount not exceeding 30 percent of the total eligible costs as determined by the department. Where…

Whenever a project requires a commitment of cooperative action or local cost sharing involving 2 or more municipalities, all participating municipalities shall execute an intermunicipal agreement relative to their respective obligations. No project which requires a local match sh…

The department shall make a concerted effort to integrate and coordinate the clean lakes program with other environmental management programs involving lakes and their watersheds, whether such programs fall within the jurisdiction of the department of environmental services or wi…

The commissioner shall adopt rules, under RSA 541-A, relative to: I. The criteria to be used in the prioritization of grants for diagnostic or feasibility studies. II. The criteria used to determine the priority of implementation projects and maintenance projects. III. Contractin…

I. The fee of $9.50 collected under the provisions of RSA 270-E:5-a, II(a) shall be paid to the director of the division of motor vehicles. The director of the division of motor vehicles shall pay over said fee to the state treasurer who shall keep the fee in a special fund to be…

There is hereby established a grant program to be administered by the department of environmental services for the allocation of money to state agencies, non-profit organizations, and municipalities or political subdivisions of the state which seek to administer a milfoil and oth…

The commissioner of the department of environmental services, or designee, in consultation with the commissioner of safety, or designee, shall establish a management plan to implement the grant program. The management plan shall include, but not be limited to: I. Eligibility dete…