In Swanzey, there is no town-owned water system, but instead a patchwork of small public water systems, a privately-owned supplier, a water and fire precinct and private residential wells.
“We’re really very fortunate that the people who were in charge of Keene’s water at that time really understood the importance of owning land around your water supply before it was well documented,” she said.
Balancing act While Keene awaits its watershed management plan, Swanzey officials are pondering their next steps after receiving the town’s source water protection plan recently.
The transmissivity — or rate at which groundwater moves horizontally through these aquifers — ranges from zero to slightly more than 4,000 feet per day, according to the plan.
Paul Susca, supervisor of the planning unit in the state’s drinking water and ground water bureau, said ordinances and zoning restrictions are ways to keep drinking water sources protected.
While contamination is a concern for public and private water systems, it’s much more of a worry with private wells because homeowners don’t often think to test them, Susca said.
Being proactive While the state has a program to regulate the more-hazardous land uses and activities near drinking water sources such as underground storage tanks and solid waste landfills, there are options available to cities and towns, with local land-use regulations and other programs, Susca said.
In Hinsdale, town officials just try to stay on top of things, water and sewer Superintendent Dennis J. Nadeau said.
Granite State Rural Water Association did a source water protection plan for the town in 2015.
One of the report’s conclusions states that while the community has two public drinking water systems that are atop high quality and productive aquifers, the systems face challenges from historic and potential land uses.