Great Bay is a treasure shared by all Seacoast citizens. We derive value from its natural resources and beauty and our lives are made richer by its contributions to the region's ecological health. It would be hard to find anyone who would disagree that Great Bay and the entire Piscataqua Region Watershed Area needs to be protected from pollution and preserved for future generations.
The enormous watershed encompasses 1,086 square miles including 52 towns in Maine and New Hampshire. According to the Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership, about 14 percent of the combined population for New Hampshire and Maine live in the region. The Great Bay estuary and the rivers that feed into it are all threatened by pollution. Nitrogen, bacteria and other toxic contaminants are taking their toll.
Pollution comes from many sources including runoff from septic systems, lawns excessively fertilized with nitrogen-heavy products, pollutants carried into watersheds during storms and washed off streets and parking lots. In addition, scientists and regulators suggest about 30 percent of the nitrogen pollution in the Great Bay comes from 18 public wastewater treatment plants.
Most of these plants are under court orders to upgrade and modernize and all have been waiting to receive guidelines from the federal Environmental Protection Agency regarding acceptable nitrogen levels for treated wastewater. Last week the EPA issued its first permit to the town of Exeter, which has an old wastewater treatment plant on the Squamscot River. The EPA told Exeter it wants no more than 3 milligrams of nitrogen per liter of treated water. It's probably safe to assume all the other communities waiting for EPA permits will be given similar guidelines.
The EPA says 3 milligrams per liter can be reasonably achieved with today's technology.
While improving wastewater systems is certainly in our environmental interests, the cost to local water and sewer ratepayers across the region would be hundreds of millions of dollars.
Exeter faces an estimated bill of $19.4 million while Portsmouth may have to pay $65 million to $100 million.
Pollution of this vast watershed is a regional problem and a shared regional responsibility. It is not only unfair to expect individual ratepayers alone to shoulder this enormous financial burden, but it is also a recipe for disaster. You can't get blood from a stone and many Seacoast residents are already struggling. To suggest we can tack on another $1,000 to $2,000 a year in sewer fees is not realistic.
There are also questions about the science.
Last week, representatives from six communities: Dover, Durham Exeter, Newmarket, Portsmouth and Rochester, sent a letter to the state's congressional delegation and Gov. John Lynch asking for intervention.
We are pleased the state Department of Environmental Services agreed to review the science behind the EPA's nitrogen limit recommendations. That review is scheduled for this summer.
Pollution of the watershed is a massive problem created by and affecting Seacoast residents. The EPA must not be allowed to create devastating financial hardships for a handful of ratepayers in a few cities and towns to make incremental environmental improvements. Local ratepayers will do their fair share but they'll need help from the state and federal government. A project of this scope and shared responsibility is the reason we have government in the first place.
Massive expenditures to upgrade treatment plants should only go forward once the vast majority of people of good faith agree to the science behind the EPA's recommendations.