Truslow Resource Consulting LLC

 

Here are the results of the survey we sent out earlier this summer.  There is also some interesting data on the top water users in New Hampshire and some upcoming events you may enjoy during the waning days of summer.

 

 

 

 

 

 
  
 

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A big thank you to everyone who participated in our Water Sustainability survey. Over 100 people responded! More than half of the respondents are very involved with water resources in New Hampshire (volunteer or work in the field).   Even with this high number involved in water already, we were able to glean some representative and very interesting data regarding perceptions of water sustainability in New Hampshire. We will also be getting the survey out to an even broader audience in the fall  - it will be interesting to compare the results.

 

The graphic displayed above is called a Wordle - a collage of text, where greater prominence is given to words that appear more frequently in the source sample (www.wordle.net). This Wordle was created in response to a question we posed in the survey:

 What does water sustainability mean to you?

Not suprisingly water was the top word, followed by: clean, quality, future, life, generations, use, enough, quantity and so on.

If we attempt to put the prominent words in the Wordle into a  sentence it might look something like:

Water sustainability means maintaining clean and plentiful water that will be available for us and future generations to use and enjoy.

 

 We also asked:

 What water issues are most important to you?

    

 

The water issue that was selected the most among survey respondents was Drinking Water with 95% of respondents selecting this issue as one of the most important. Wildlife and Public Recreation were water issues that were selected by 86% and 73% of respondents, respectively. Commercial Use and Irrigation was selected by 32% of survey respondents, perhaps a reflection of the target audience.

 

Other water issues that were most important to survey respondents included floodwater storage and wastewater infrastructure.

 

The priorities of the New Hampshire Lives on Water (NH2O) Initiative are:

  1. To have informed and engaged consumers

  2. To have strong water infrastructure

  3. To integrate management and planning for water resources

 

Lastly we asked:

Who should be involved in water sustainability and the NH2O Initiative?

Essentially, you said EVERYONE! ... Farmers, State Agencies, Federal Agencies, Municipalities and Local Water Providers, Lake, River, and Watershed Associations and Alliances, Land Trusts, K-12 Schools and Students, Colleges and Universities, Industry and Commerce, Small Businesses, Tourism and Ski Industry, Citizens, Legislators, and more!

Stay informed through the NH2O website and help build awareness and momentum across the state.

 



 

 

  

 

evaluating and resolving land & water resource issues
454 Court Street, Suite 304, Portsmouth, NH 03801  

p 603.766.6670   c 603.498.2916

[email protected] ­

 www.truslowRC.com

SUMMER 2014

 

Updates from the Long Island Sound

 

 

 

Through the WaterVision LLC joint venture, we are helping the Long Island Sound Study (LISS) to revise their Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP) originally developed in 1994. We are busy evaluating and incorporating comments from the many agencies that support the health of Long Island Sound and will have the final draft ready in late Fall 2014. The public draft will be rolled out in September 2014.   

 

The large area that influences Long Island Sound (five states and all of the Connecticut River watershed) make effective outreach to stakeholders a challenge.  

 

We are currently working closely with the agency and its Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) and developing a municipal webinar to announce the CCMP update and engage municipal officials, volunteers and employees in its revision. In early September we will hold the one-hour webinar and focus on issues like resilency, sustainability, support for community festivals that feature the Sound, informing residents about Long Island Sound water quality, beach and seafood safety and public access to the Sound. Also, three public meetings will be held in New York and Connecticut to roll out the public draft and encourage review and feedback on the plan. Stay tuned to the LISS update webpage to find out more about these opportuniies to learn and engage.

 

  
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The pie chart to the left effectively illustrates the range of NHDES-registered water users of groundwater and surface water in New Hampshire.  The data are from 2012 and include all but the Power-related categories of users.  Water suppliers - municipal, community and private - are the largest users, with aquaculture (mostly fish hatcheries) the next largest user.  Snowmaking and industrial users rank 3rd and 4th with irrigation (lawn, field, greens, watering) being the fifth largest.  Thanks to NHDES for cataloging this important information.