Minutes of the 4/6/06 Meeting

In attendance:

Edythe Anderson, Town of Newbury; Aimee Ayers, Lake Sunapee Protective
Association; Helen Charpentier, Town of Sunapee; Andy Chapman, NH DES; Deane
Geddes, Town of Newbury; June Fichter, Lake Sunapee Protective Association;
Charles Forsberg, Town of Sutton; Carol Foss, Little Sunapee Protective Association;
Charlie Hirshberg, Town of Sunapee; Kathryn Holmes, Town of Newbury; Burton
Jones, Town of New London; Ken Lawson, Town of Springfield & Kolebrook Lake
Protective Association; Suzanne Levine, Newbury Conservation Commission; Carolyn
Russell, DES; Steve Russell, Environmental Committee Chair-Sunapee Hills; Robert
Wood, Lake Sunapee Protective Association.

June Fichter opened the meeting at 6:35 p.m. The Coalition addressed nine areas of
business.

1. Motion made, seconded and approved to accept the minutes of September 14 as
drafted.

2. June Fichter reported that Watershed Advisory Subcommittee members met with
Jennifer Palmiotto of Granite State Rural Water Association (GSRWA) yesterday. Full
membership of WAC is still being developed. She will be speaking with the Chamber
of Commerce, and Deane Geddes will speak to the Realtors’ Association

3. She reported that much of yesterday’s meeting with Jennifer Palmiotto was devoted
to planning the upcoming Public Workshop and Information Session, tentatively
scheduled for December 14 at 6:30 p.m. The agenda will include an introduction to the
Coalition, its purpose and objectives; presentation of available water quality data;
discussion of the lakes and ponds within the Sunapee watershed, the drinking water
and local municipal water systems, source water assessment, and the watershed
protection plan development process.

4. She reported on the status of three on-going projects:

- Both the land use regulations study, and the build-out study will be completed by mid-
November.

- Preliminary results of Geosyntec’s water modeling analysis will be available in
November, and the final results will be available in December. In response to
questions from Coalition members, she and Andy Chapman explained that water
modeling involves inputting of data (specific to Sunapee Watershed) into the “Monte
Carlo” computer program. The computer program will provide certain benchmarks
relative to stages of building activity in the watershed. For example, a certain amount of
development will result in a certain amount of bloom or a certain change in water
clarity, etc. The ultimate goal is to determine what the phosphorus loading will be if
complete build-out is reached, and to decide whether or not that is acceptable, and if
not, what should be done. The Geosyntec study falls under the purview of water
quality study and testing, and the cost will be partly covered by the grant. Andy
Chapman cautioned that there is the slight risk that the data may show that there will
not be a phosphorus problem. Members agreed that that is a risk, but an unlikely one.
Woody reminded everyone that the increase in phosphorus loading between the study
done twelve years ago, and the one done by UVLSRPC seven years ago was 325%,
and the increase in phosphorus in the lake for that same time period was 150%.

5. Updated Coalition Member Lists were distributed.

6. Announcements and registration forms for the 2006 Watershed Conference
sponsored by DES were distributed. This has been postponed from the original date of
November 11 to November 18.

7. Helen Charpentier reported on the New England Conference on Water that she
attended in Amherst. A major concern now is the problem of large bottling companies
removing groundwater. She distributed a listing of sites from which companies are
currently removing groundwater in New Hampshire, and a copy of the Town of
Barnstead’s Water Rights & Local Self-Government Ordinance. Woody pointed out
that that ordinance has not yet been tested in court. Deane Geddes said there does
exist a (State?) regulation limiting how much groundwater can be taken per day. Helen
Charpentier said there is a problem with companies getting around that by putting in a
pipe, and taking the water somewhere else. .

She concluded by saying that this problem really belongs to the individual towns, but
the Coalition can at least provide a model ordinance, and let concerned residents within
those Towns carry it from there. Members agreed that this falls slightly outside the
specific purview of SAWC, but it could be part of the presentation made to Towns
upon completion of the Land Use Regulation study.

8. Aimee Ayers asked, now that several Coalition members will be working on the
Watershed Protection Plan over the next ten months, will there be a reassignment of
tasks. Members agreed that at this point in time, no changes will be made to the three
areas of SAWC work: land use, education, and water quality.

9. June Fichter reminded everyone to get time sheets to her.

The meeting adjourned at 7:15 p.m. The next SAWC meeting will be November 9 at
6:30 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Sarah A. Denz
Recording Secretary