Surface Water Quality Standards
Assessing the health of New Hampshire's surface waters and providing regulatory tools to protect them.
Water quality standards are used to protect the state’s surface waters. Standards consist of three parts: designated uses, such as fishing or swimming; numerical or narrative criteria to protect the designated uses; and an antidegradation policy, which maintains existing high quality water that exceeds the criteria. Criteria are established by statute and by administrative rules. Several topics over the years have generated a great deal of interest leading to the plans and publications below:
- Plan to Generate PFAS Surface Water Quality Standards.
- Assessment of Chlorophyll-a and Phosphorus in New Hampshire Lakes for Nutrient Criteria Development (January 2009).
- Numeric Nutrient Criteria for the Great Bay Estuary (June 2009).
- Joint Report of Peer Review Panel for Numeric Nutrient Criteria for the Great Bay Estuary (February 13, 2014).
- Independent Peer Review of Nutrient Criteria Proposal for the Great Bay Estuary.
Water Quality Standards Information Exchange
A temporary water quality standards advisory committee (WQSAC) was established in the fall of 2000, and renewed once in 2011, to assist the agency in drafting revised water quality regulations through formal membership and procedures. Since the end of the formal committee, NHDES has maintained a regular meeting schedule as the format has been helpful to keep the department abreast of issues related to water quality and the public informed of standards developments.
Recognizing the importance of the water quality standards discussions, NHDES decided that the core of the WQSAC activities will be carried forward as the Water Quality Standards Information Exchange (WQSIE). While less formal, the WQSIE is a more inclusive format for public input and solicitation of ideas while providing a venue for the discussion of focused surface water quality standards issues. The WQSIE convenes at the discretion of NHDES with meetings open to the public with full participation in the discussion of issues of interest.
You can view documents from past meetings by selecting from any of the meeting dates below:
- August 29, 2024
- June 13, 2023
- January 13, 2022
- November 4, 2021
- July 8, 2021
- January 14, 2021
- October 1, 2020
- April 9, 2020
- December 6, 2019
- July 25, 2019
- April 11, 2019
- October 11, 2018
- April 12, 2018
- January 11, 2018
- October 12, 2017
- April 13, 2017
- February 9, 2017
- October 13, 2016
Meeting archives
If you are interested in attending WQSIE meetings, need accommodations for any of the WQSIE meeting documents, or would like to get on the WQSIE mailing list, please contact us.
NHDES is proposing to readopt with amendment the rules identified as Env-Wq 1700 Surface Water Quality Standards. The Initial Proposal and Rulemaking Notice (including the Fiscal Impact Statement) for the rules are available on the rulemaking notice.
Three additional draft documents are also provided to aid the public in understanding of proposed changes.
- Cross-reference table – Env-Wq 1700 rule effective 12-01-2016 to IP Changes as of 9-10-2024 – Explanatory comments by change as well as links to presentations on each topic.
- Updating the Arsenic Human Health Criteria (draft) – The rationale and science behind the changes to the human health criteria for arsenic in surface waters.
- Aluminum Criteria Implementation in NPDES Permitting (draft) – The process by which the NPDES permitting program would implement the multi-linear regression criteria in their permits.