Water Resources

Model Groundwater Protection Ordinance - 2024, NH Department of Environmental Services
This publication contains guidance and sample language that can be used to update local groundwater and aquifer protection zoning. Technical assistance is also available from NHDES. If your community is considering formally amending your local zoning, please contact NHDES.
DES Drinking Water and Groundwater Bureau
American Ground Water Trust
See the results of the Municipal Land Use Regulation Annual Survey for municipalities with Groundwater and Surface Water Protection regulations.

Official List of Public Waters in New Hampshire as maintained by the Department of Environmental Services
Public waters in New Hampshire are prescribed by common law as great ponds (natural waterbodies of 10 acres or more in size), public rivers and streams, and tidal waters. These common law public waters are held by the State in trust for the people of New Hampshire. The State holds the land underlying great ponds and tidal waters (including tidal rivers) in trust for the people of New Hampshire. Generally, but with some exceptions, private property owners hold title to the land underlying freshwater rivers and streams, and the State has an easement over this land for public purposes.
DES Lakes Management and Protection Program
DES Public Waters/Healthy Swimming
DES Dam Bureau – for information about dams, lake levels and stream flows
Public Water Access Advisory Board
- Public Access Maps for New Hampshire's 35 largest lakes
NH Lakes Association
Boating in New Hampshire (NH F&G)

Chapter 483-B Shoreland Water Quality Protection Act (SWQPA) [formerly known as Comprehensive Shoreland Protection Act]
DES Shoreland Program
- DES Consolidated List of Water Bodies Subject to the Shoreland Water Quality Protection Act (including fourth order and higher streams and rivers)
See the results of the Municipal Land Use Regulation Annual Survey for municipalities with local Shoreland Protection regulations.
This list should not be construed to mean that any municipality has complied with the terms of RSA 483-B, the Shoreland Water Quality Protection Act, or that the Office of Strategic Initiatives has certified such compliance. This list is merely a self-reported statement by municipalities that they have adopted some level of shoreland protection.

Chapter 2.1 Permanent (Post-Construction) Stormwater Management from the Innovative Land Use Planning Techniques Handbook
DES Stormwater Program
- Low Impact Development and Stormwater Management, NH DES Stormwater Manual, Volume
- New Hampshire Homeowner's Guide to Stormwater Management - Do-It-Yourself Stormwater Solutions For Your Home, NH DES 2019
- Best Management Practices to Control Nonpoint Source Pollution, NHDES Guide for Citizens and Town Officials
- DES Watershed Assistance Section
NHDOT Guidelines For Temporary Erosion and Sediment Control and Stormwater Management pdf file, (NHDOT Business Center)
UNH Stormwater Center - Dedicated to the protection of water resources through effective stormwater management
Model Stormwater Standards for Coastal Watershed Communities
Prepared by the University of New Hampshire Stormwater Center and The Rockingham Planning Commission, December 2012
The International Stormwater Best Management Practices (BMP) Database project website features a database of over 530 BMP studies, performance analysis results, tools for use in BMP performance studies, monitoring guidance and other study-related publications.
See the results of the Municipal Land Use Regulation Annual Survey for municipalities with Stormwater Management (post-construction) regulations.

State Water Plan Process: Municipalities Have a Crucial Stake, New Hampshire Town and City, April 2009
DES Water Resources Primer (Chapter 7, Water Use and Conservation)- January 2009
The Water Resources Primer was developed to inform policy makers and citizens about the state's water resources and the challenges faced in sustainably managing them. It was developed as part of an initiative to develop a statewide, comprehensive water resources plan, spearheaded by the Legislature's Statutory Water Resources Committee. The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services is the lead author, although the document was significantly influenced and improved by the contributions of many volunteer stakeholders and experts.
Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership
The mission of Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership (PREP) is to protect and improve the water quality and overall health of the region's two estuaries – Great Bay & Hampton-Seabrook. We monitor and research the region's water ways, encourage all who live, work and play on the Seacoast to take actions to help protect and preserve the places we love, support development patterns that protect water quality, maintain open spaces and important habitat, and restore estuarine resources.
Buffers for Wetlands and Surface Waters - A Guidebook for New Hampshire Municipalities (November 1995, Revised May 1997)

Wetlands Bureau, Department of Environmental Services
NH Method
The Method for Inventorying and Evaluating Freshwater Wetlands in New Hampshire (NH Method) provides communities, conservation groups and natural resources consultants a practical method for evaluating wetland functions. Originally published in 1991, the NH Method (2011) has been updated for the first time in 20 years.
NH Towns' Wetland Buffer Requirements (January 2010) This chart begun by Betsy Janeway, Webster, added onto by Chris Parker, Dover, and now Francie Von Mertens, Peterborough. Accuracy/completeness not guaranteed and does not represent a thorough inventory of town wetland/shoreland ordinances. Send updates/corrections/additions to Francie Von Mertens vonmertens@myfairpoint.net (603) 924-6550 (Provided with expressed permission.)
Vernal Pool Best Management Practices (BMPs) - US Army Corps of Engineers
Protecting New Hampshire's Wetlands: Municipal Issues, New Hampshire Town and City, July/August 2005
See the results of the Municipal Land Use Regulation Annual Survey for municipalities with Wetland Protection or Wetlands Buffering requirements.