HB 1305 – AS INTRODUCED
2010 SESSION
06/10
HOUSE BILL 1305
AN ACT relative to designating uses for surface waters.
SPONSORS: Rep. Moody, Rock 12; Rep. Spang, Straf 7; Rep. Abbott, Rock 12; Rep. G. Richardson, Merr 4; Sen. Cilley, Dist 6
COMMITTEE: Resources, Recreation and Development
This bill clarifies the definition of surface waters, designates beneficial uses of surface waters, and establishes requirements for antidegradation.
This bill is a request of the department of environmental services.
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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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
10-2096
06/10
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Ten
AN ACT relative to designating uses for surface waters.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 New Paragraph; Definitions; High Quality Water. Amend RSA 485-A:2 by inserting after paragraph V the following new paragraph:
V-a. “High quality water” means a surface water of the state whose water quality exceeds any criterion or criteria for support of existing uses and the uses assigned to the class, or whose qualities and characteristics support a high quality or exemplary natural community of aquatic organisms.
2 New Paragraph; Definitions; Outstanding Resource Water. Amend RSA 485-A:2 by inserting after paragraph VIII the following new paragraph:
VIII-a. “Outstanding resource water” means a surface water of the state that has exceptional recreational or ecological significance, including, but not limited to, surface waters that are wholly or partially in a national forest, state park, or wildlife refuge.
3 Definitions; Surface Waters of the State. Amend RSA 485-A:2, XIV to read as follows:
XIV. “Surface waters of the state” means perennial and seasonal streams, lakes, ponds, and tidal waters within the jurisdiction of the state, including all streams, lakes, or ponds bordering on the state, marshes, swamps, bogs, other wetlands, water courses, and other bodies of water, natural or artificial.
4 Standards for Classification of Surface Waters of the State. Amend the introductory paragraph of RSA 485-A:8 to read as follows:
485-A:8 Standards for Classification of Surface Waters of the State. It shall be the overall goal that all surface waters attain and maintain specified standards of water quality to [achieve] support the [purposes of the legislative classification] beneficial uses designated in RSA 485-A:9-a, I. For purposes of classification there shall be 2 classes or grades of surface waters as follows:
5 New Sections; Designated Beneficial Uses; Antidegradation Requirements. Amend RSA 485-A by inserting after section 9 the following new sections:
485-A:9-a Designated Beneficial Uses. The following beneficial uses shall apply to all classes of surface waters:
I. Support of aquatic life, including a balanced, integrated, and adaptive community of organisms having a species composition, diversity, and functional organization comparable to that of similar natural habitats of the region;
II. Recreation in and on the water, including, where applicable, swimming, wading, boating of all types, fishing, surfing, and similar activities;
III. Fish and shellfish for consumption;
IV. Drinking water supply after adequate treatment;
V. Water-oriented wildlife, including, but not limited to, waterfowl, shore birds, beaver, mink, moose, and otter;
VI. Geomorphic integrity, including suitable physical conditions in surface waters, adjacent shorelands, and riparian zones to provide floodwater attenuation and storage and maintain natural processes of erosion and sedimentation.
485-A:9-b Anitdegradation Requirements. In order to implement the antidegradation provisions of the federal Clean Water Act as required under 40 CFR section 131.12, the following shall apply:
I. Existing uses and the level of water quality necessary to protect existing uses shall be maintained and protected.
II. The water quality of high quality waters shall be maintained and protected unless the department finds, after full public participation, that allowing lower water quality is necessary to accommodate important economic or social development in the area in which the waters are located In allowing such degradation or lower water quality, the department shall impose such limitations or conditions on the activity as are necessary to ensure water quality adequate to protect existing uses fully.
III. The water quality of outstanding resource waters shall be maintained and protected.
IV. In those cases where a potential water quality impairment is associated with a thermal discharge, the requirements of section 316 of the federal Clean Water Act shall be met.
V. The department shall impose such limitations or conditions on all new and existing point sources as are necessary to ensure that the highest statutory and regulatory requirements are achieved, and shall require the implementation of all cost effective and reasonable best management practices for nonpoint source control.
6 Effective Date. This act shall take effect upon its passage.