NH DES Presents Award to City of Portsmouth

The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services presented awards recently at its annual Drinking Water Source Protection Conference at the Grappone Center in Concord, according to a press statement.

NHDES Commissioner Tom Burack presented a “Source Water Protection” award to David Paris, who recently retired from Manchester Water Works. Paris was recognized for his leadership and efforts more than 40 years to improve protection of the city’s drinking water source, Lake Massabesic.

The city of Portsmouth received NHDES’ “Source Water Sustainability” award for a variety of water conservation measures being implemented, including New Hampshire’s first customer rebate program that provides incentives for customers to install more water-efficient appliances.

The day-long conference attracted over 230 water suppliers, municipal officials and volunteers, and industry consultants.

The conference featured Dr. Mark Borsuk, an associate professor of Engineering at the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College, who provided a summary of a statewide public survey conducted in 2014 by Dartmouth College to estimate the health impacts associated with exposure to arsenic which is often found in private well water in New Hampshire. Other conference sessions covered NHDES’ on-going work to address MtBE in groundwater and “emerging” contaminants in drinking water now being studied by researchers and EPA.

For more information about the conference, please contact Pierce Rigrod, NHDES at 603 271-0688.

Caption: NHDES Commissioner Tom Burack presents Allan Pratt and Peter Armstrong of the city of Portsmouth with the Source Water Sustainability Award.