Water Resources
The RPC region is rich in water resources. These resources include freshwater rivers and streams, lakes and
ponds, wetlands, shoreland areas, and groundwater resources of stratified drift and bedrock aquifers. This region
also contains New Hampshire’s only oceanfront coastline
and encompasses estuarine resources associated with the
Great Bay and Hampton-Seabrook Estuaries. As the region
has grown and land uses have changed there has been
increasing impacts on all water resources.
The region has:
- 785 miles of rivers and streams
- 43 lakes and ponds over 10 acres in size.
- 18 miles of oceanfront
- 38,000 acres of wetlands
- 75+ miles of estuarine shoreline
- 229,974 acres of aquifers
These land use changes have resulted in both positive and negative impacts on the health of the water resources RPC communities that rely on. Water resources are managed and protected at all levels of government; however, the task of protecting local water resources relies heavily on individual, local and regional efforts. Water generally does not follow political boundaries, so successful protection efforts require cooperation and collaboration between many entities.
RPC has conducts work on a variety of water resources topics, including regional and municipal resource protection efforts, stormwater mitigation/ MS4 permit compliance, water infrastructure cooperate agreements, and resource and asset mapping.
A list of current water-related projects is available below.
