Erik R. Nelson: Residents do not support unjustified sewer project in Bristol

To The Daily Sun,

In March of 2019, the residents of Bristol approved the Sewer to the Lake project. The town’s citizens were told that “if the town could not get $10 million in grant money, that the project would be aborted”. One year later after the town’s residents learned more details about the true costs of the project to them, buyer's remorse set in. At the March of 2020 Town Meeting, the residents voted on whether or not to abandon the project, or proceed. The town’s people voted 31 to proceed, and 91 voted to abort the project. Despite the community’s outcry after learning more details about the project, the select board has continued to forge ahead with the project with total disregard to the public outcry over this project.

To fund this project, the increase to the community’s individual property taxes are estimated to be $0.85 per thousand dollar valuation. This will impact everyone’s property taxes for many years to come. And, don’t forget that after completion of this “initial sewer line from the lake phase”, there are additional proposed phases to follow which will further increase property taxes again. These increases do not include the inevitable sewer system and sewer line maintenance costs either.

In March of 2019 a study of the proposed sewer to the lake project was prepared and published by Underwood Engineers, including an “environmental assessment.” In this EA report was “a water quality study conducted in 2012-2013 by the University of New Hampshire Center for Freshwater Biology and UNH Cooperative Extension.” The study “found that Newfound Lake, as a whole, is characteristic of a high-quality water body. However, the study also found that the water quality of the southern end of the lake had lower water transparency, higher total phosphorus levels, and declining dissolved oxygen concentrations through the summer months (Craycraft & Schloss, 2013). These results may be an indication of the influence of development by way of storm water runoff, septic system leaching, and fertilizer use around the southern end of Newfound Lake.” Additional studies “determined that septic systems installed in close proximity to NH lakes in well-draining soils can contribute high phosphorus loads into the water column thereby contributing to water quality degradation.”

Since then, numerous people have repeatedly mischaracterized sources of pollutants in the lake to include runoff from septic systems and winter salt from adjacent roadways. The fact is as you can see for yourselves from the quoted engineering report above states, those sources “may be an indication of the influence,” and that “septic systems installed in close proximity to NH lakes in well-draining soils can contribute high phosphorus loads into the water column.” This study clearly does not conclude what some individuals allege. In order to rally support for this $19.8 million dollar project, some individuals propagate this bogus “hypothesis” that pollutants in Newfound Lake were identified by the above UNH study, and therefore the sewer to the Lake project is justified.

Erik R. Nelson

Bristol