Winni River Basin member communities support transition to regional wastewater authority

The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services staff and Winnipesaukee River Basin Program Advisory Board members will complete presentations before a study commission by the end of this month, as member communities look to create a new, regional wastewater authority.

The move would remove NHDES staff as sole controllers of the program, and give member communities a direct voice. The WRBP serves the towns of Belmont, Center Harbor, Gilford, Meredith, Moultonborough, Northfield, Sanbornton and Tilton, and the cities of Laconia and Franklin. In July, Gov. Kelly Ayotte signed SB 592, which created a commission to study transiting ownership to an “alternative authority.”

Recently, the Belmont Selectboard voted in support of the transition, as did those in Meredith and Gilford.

In Belmont, the selectboard voted 4-0 on Aug. 5, with member Sharon Ciampi abstaining, to support the transition to a regional authority owned and managed by members.

Alicia Jipson, Belmont town administrator, laid out a series of pain points, as well as the proposed timeline.

Talking points were centered on unrealistic, double-digit annual increases in billing since fiscal year 2022, and the state’s failure to deliver a comprehensive capital improvement plan, along with mismanagement by NHDES staff, since 2015.

“Every community would now be on the board of directors, so we would have 100% say in the budget, on the projects, and what gets done. We wouldn’t be an advisory anymore,” Jipson said. Right now, "the state is just coming in to say, ‘Hey, these are the projects we wanna do,’ and we really have no say.”

Jipson also highlighted:

• NHDES leadership has not corrected issues identified in a letter dated 2015, despite frequent requests by the advisory board
• WRBP cannot articulate a plan to put the program on a financially sustainable footprint
• WBRP has not implemented a coherent and cost-effective asset management strategy
• When WRBP tries to execute projects, they can’t achieve successful outcomes, resulting in wasteful spending
• An asset management initiative was started in 2016, and never finished; the “amount spent to date was $1.19 million and rising” to complete the setup of the system
• In November 2025, member communities sent a letter of concern to NHDES; since January 2026, at the advisory board meeting, “we had met with the DES commissioner and the management team has not improved or changed. DES has not provided an interim management correction plan.”

A chief complaint was misuse of ratepayer monies.

“The advisory board’s 25 project audit determined that the WRBP program wasted ratepayer dollars. There was a solids handling project determined to be unconstructible, but yet we still spent $665,000 to determine that it wasn’t constructible,” Jipson said. “It was determined to be unconstructible in ‘23. The state has not resolved the issue with the consultant as of this date.”

The transition to a regional authority will be lengthy, she said, and not final until 2027.

“When you’re looking at the big picture, basically the state’s just throwing everything in the communities’ lap to iron out or figure out,” selectboard Chair Ruth Mooney said. “It’s a lot.”

Belmont’s aging sewer and water infrastructure has struggled in the past few years, with more than three water main breaks this year alone. Now, the town and state are in a boxing match over how to repair the pipe.

Transitioning to a regional wastewater authority would help Belmont leaders have more say.

In Laconia, support for a separate wastewater regional authority was expressed, but no vote was taken by council. Mayor Mike Bordes will nominate someone from any of the 10 member communities to the study commission. The nominee will join Mark Borrin, of the Bay District, selected by the advisory board. The Bay District serves Center Harbor and Moultonborough.

“As a reminder, there’s a study commission that’s been signed now by the governor. That study commission is going to determine, are the 10 member communities going to take over the Winnipesaukee River Basin or is the state going to continue to run it?” Laconia City Manager Kirk Beattie said at the July 27 council meeting.

According to both Jipson and Beattie, NHDES staff seem ready to relinquish their leadership role with the WRBP.

“A July 22nd meeting with the DES commissioner and his staff confirmed their support for transitioning to a separate municipal wastewater authority and helped them understand the Advisory Board’s expectations on the necessary interim improvements to the Program’s management,” reads Beattie's July projects update.

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Katlyn Proctor can be reached at katlyn@laconiadailysun.com or by calling 603-524-0150.