CHAPTER 63
HB 1609-FN – FINAL VERSION
09mar06…1046h
2006 SESSION
06/03
HOUSE BILL 1609-FN
AN ACT requiring a pilot project to estimate future water needs and availability.
SPONSORS: Rep. Cilley, Straf 3; Rep. Wall, Straf 7; Rep. Phinizy, Sull 5; Rep. Cataldo, Straf 3; Rep. Spang, Straf 7; Sen. Estabrook, Dist 21; Sen. Hassan, Dist 23; Sen. Johnson, Dist 2
COMMITTEE: Resources, Recreation and Development
This bill requires the department of environmental services to conduct a pilot project to devise methods of estimating future water needs and availability.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
09mar06…1046h
06-2778
06/03
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Six
AN ACT requiring a pilot project to estimate future water needs and availability.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
63:1 Pilot Project; Future Water Needs and Availability; Progress Reports.
I. The department of environmental services shall conduct a pilot project to devise methods of estimating future water needs and water availability for a 10-year planning period within a defined geopolitical area of the seacoast area of New Hampshire. The project shall recommend methodologies for municipalities to use in the development of water management plans and to inform the department of environmental services in the large groundwater permitting process. The project shall include an analysis of all current water withdrawals, estimated available surface and groundwater, and estimates of future water needs of municipal water systems, residential, agricultural, commercial, and industrial water users within the study area. The department shall consult appropriate stakeholders within the pilot project area for assistance in designing and implementing the project. These stakeholders shall include, but not be limited to, the office of energy and planning, regional planning commissions, municipal authorities, applicable conservation commissions, and those associations representing agricultural, commercial, and industrial interests.
II. The department shall conduct the pilot project using existing resources and currently available information.
III. The department shall make regular progress reports as requested by the chairperson of the water resources committee, established in RSA 481:1-b, and the chairperson of the commission to study issues relative to groundwater withdrawals, established by 2003, 305 as extended by 2005, 287.
63:2 Effective Date. This act shall take effect upon its passage.
Approved: April 24, 2006
Effective: April 24, 2006