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The first stakeholder meeting for the Lake Sunapee Watershed Infrastructure Project (SWIP) took place on October 28th, 2009. Approximately forty stakeholders from different towns within the watershed, as well as nonprofit organizations, local businesses, and state agencies attended this initial meeting. Many great ideas were discussed and priority topics for future work were established.
The ideas of how to improve storm water infrastructure within the Lake Sunapee Watershed have been grouped into three upcoming workshops. These workshops will be held on Wednesday evenings from 6:30-8pm. All interested are encouraged to attend one or more of these workshops: More details will be coming soon.
• February 17th – Development & Zoning
• March, 31st – Reducing Impact: Water Retention & Impervious Surfaces
• April, 21st – Local Government & Infrastructure
It is important for community members to be involved as this project moves forward in order to utilize this information and make appropriate recommendations regarding stormwater infrastructure, future development projects, and updates to town management plans. A long-term program to upgrade the stormwater management system, utilizing Low-Impact Development strategies to manage uncertainty and costs, may maintain historically acceptable risk levels. This study makes a significant contribution toward the generation of reliable and specific estimates of impacts from change of run-off from rainfall and development, in support of programs to adapt civil infrastructures.
Increased stormwater runoff is a challenging problem, as evidenced by the damage incurred in the past few years from major flooding events in New Hampshire. Numerous scientific studies report that intensified precipitation will likely stress civil infrastructures. Communities may have a window of opportunities to prepare, but information to support community recommended change is sparse.
LSPA is part of a team that has recently been awarded funding from NOAA to study stormwater infrastructure conditions in the Sunapee watershed. The Lake Sunapee watershed includes six towns around the lake: Sunapee, New London, Newbury, Goshen, Springfield, and Sutton. The project is estimated to be a two year effort to assess potential risks in the local infrastructure during and after stormwater events. Overall, this project is going to include a variety of steps starting with the field work and ending with the climate modelling and cost assessment of the infrastructural changes. The results of the study will lead to information that municipalities and other stakeholders can use to prevent losses from storm events.
Date published on web site:
01-20-2010
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