DOVER — The future for Great Bay may be a little brighter, at least in the wake of a dialogue Monday between state environmental officials — including Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter — and involved community members.
"The talent in the room was absolutely impressive," Shea-Porter said Tuesday of the meeting at Great Bay Community College, which was the second of its kind and likely not the last.
She added the meeting gave a "reason to be optimistic" as participating groups like the Southeast Watershed Alliance, N.H. Fish and Game, the Nature Conservancy, the Environmental Protection Agency, the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services and the Army Corps of Engineers are working together toward the common goal of improving the region's waters.
"Everyone has a separate issue but with a common theme," Shea-Porter said.
Great Bay, surrounding rivers in the coastal area and the Hampton/Seabrook Estuary have been the focus of statewide talks as to how to reverse damage caused by heightened nutrient levels in the waters. While wastewater treatment plants that empty into the estuary are facing possible upgrades to reduce nitrogen in their effluent, water quality advocates maintain the problem is much larger and requires help from all communities.
Joel Harrington, director of government relations for the Nature Conservancy, said, "There are some nutrient-loading issues that come from different sources that will be dealt with by the federal and state agencies, but I think there's some interim steps that communities could really play a pivotal role in right now."
It is those interim steps that members of the Southeast Watershed Alliance, a regional organization of municipalities in New Hampshire's coastal watershed area, were hoping to convey to state officials Monday for support and funding.
"It's really important for the SWA to make sure our congressional delegation is aware of the needs in this area," said Walter Fries, chairman of the SWA. "We had a dialogue so she (Carol Shea-Porter) could understand what is going on, because SWA is really representing the needs of over 42 communities."
Contamination from "non-point sources" such as sewage treatment and runoff of groundwater — which can contain nutrient-loaded matter like fertilizer — are just some areas needing focus in order to improve the water quality, according to state environmental officials.
Shea-Porter said Tuesday that options for funding were discussed at Monday's meeting, and she also mentioned looking to see whether anything could be put on a spending bill.
But, she added, it would make sense to first "find out what we're looking at" and then go from there.
Fries echoed that approach in terms of the task at hand for the SWA.
"We're going to require funding," he said, "but we're still developing a strategic plan for what is going to be done and looking at this both in terms of being fairly specific, being realistic, and doing things on a very time-phased basis."
He added the main task currently is to collect information for all the involved municipalities and present that information "in a way that will help the construction of a constructive public policy."
With the SWA and state involvement, officials like Harrington and Shea-Porter say they are enthusiastic about the amount of effort and attention that is being put into bringing forth solutions to water quality issues.
"I think the communities are very enthusiastic about trying to find some solutions collectively," Harrington said. "There is some creativity going on. We certainly haven't seen this in a long time but there's a lot of charged and engaged groups and municipalities that really want to tackle this problem."
