Abstract |
The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (DES) received funds in 2001 from the New Hampshire Estuaries Project (NHEP) to administer grants to coastal municipalities to eliminate illicit discharges into their storm drainage systems. This final report describes the three projects that were funded under this grant. Projects in Exeter, Dover, and Somersworth involved eliminating numerous sewage discharges into storm drainage systems from houses, apartment buildings, and commercial buildings, as well as discharges to wetlands from floor drains in town garages. All of these efforts helped improve water quality in the coastal area by reducing pollution from bacteria, oil, grease, and heavy metals. NHEP chose to fund illicit discharge detection and elimination projects for a number of reasons. Primarily, this grant was established in order to fulfill several water quality action plans identified in the NHEP Management Plan. |