Section 485-E:1 Findings and Purpose.
I. New Hampshire's coastal water resources have significant ecological, commercial, cultural, and recreational values for the state and its citizens. The state's coastal water resources are highly sensitive and are subject to intense and increasing pressures associated with population growth and development, including increased pollution loads from many sources, including wastewater treatment facilities, stormwater runoff, septic systems, and land use practices. Excess levels of nutrients are of particular concern, have become a significant problem in the Great Bay estuary, and are likely to result in more stringent water quality requirements that could affect activities occurring in municipalities throughout the coastal watershed. In order to improve and protect water quality and meet state and federal regulations, it is necessary for municipalities to reduce nutrient pollution loads from wastewater treatment facilities, stormwater runoff, septic systems and septage, and land use practices. It is essential that the state, and municipalities located within the state's coastal watershed, work in a coordinated way to address these problems and protect the health and sustainability of New Hampshire's coastal resources.
II. The purposes of this chapter are to:
(a) Create better municipal, intermunicipal, and regional planning and coordination relative to wastewater and stormwater management, water quality and water supply planning, and land use;
(b) Establish a regional framework for coastal watershed communities, regional planning commissions, the state, and other stakeholders to collaborate on planning and implementation measures to improve and protect water quality and more effectively address the challenges of meeting clean water standards, particularly with respect to nutrients pollution;
(c) Encourage coastal watershed municipalities, the state, and other stakeholders, individually and in collaboration with one another, to plan, implement, and invest in wastewater, stormwater, and land use planning and management approaches that protect the water quality, natural hydrology, and habitats of the state's coastal resources and associated waters and that advance the state's economic growth, resource protection, and planning policy, established in RSA 9-B; and
(d) Seek innovative solutions to reducing pollution and enhancing water quality.
Source. 2004, 258:1, eff. Aug. 15, 2004. 2009, 220:1, eff. July 15, 2009.