Save Lake Sunapee Watershed (SLSW) represents over five hundred area residents and has been encouraging the local Selectboards to adopt a more proactive approach to protecting the local watershed.  The local streams, ponds, and lakes are the bucolic centerpiece of the region and a vital component of the health of our local economy.    

SLSW is actively recruiting Newbury, Sunapee, New London, and Springfield residents to expand our efforts.    

Our local economy and the area’s property values will suffer if water quality continues its decline.  Numerous studies in other lake regions have validated the relationship between declining water quality and falling property values.

The lack of enforcement of stormwater protections and erosion control measures (Articles 7 and 21 of Newbury’s zoning ordinances) is a key contributor to the decline in water quality.  

SLSW has provided recommendations that the Newbury Selectboard arrest this decline.  These ordinances are specifically in place to prevent sediment and harmful pollutants from washing into our bodies of water.  

The Selectboard should dedicate sufficient resources and expertise to enforce stormwater and erosion control measures already in Newbury’s ordinances.

Recommendations:

• Budget an additional hire with a minimum of three days per week dedicated to watershed quality. This position would be separate from the current Code Enforcement Officer and have skill sets in erosion control.

• Modify the current permitting charges for review and inspections with specific increases in the Shoreland District. These new user fees would partially or fully offset the new hire cost and place no additional burden on the town’s taxpayers.

• Implement metrics and reporting requirements so that enforcement activities can be objectively measured and reported back to the town’s residents.

• Empower a town committee to provide the Selectboard and residents with a comprehensive set of recommendations to protect the watershed.