Boston Globe Article

[Descant]

Lakegeezer makes good points about storm water runoff. In many instances, where regulations don't address soil types and slopes the runoff impact may come from 500 or 1000 feet, not the 250' we now pay attention to. Especially in a year like this one where the watershed has been saturated all through the spring, big storms carry a lot of junk into the lakes, all lakes, not just Winnipesaukee.
In the 60's and 70's we built the Winnipesaukee River drainage project bringing sewer to Lake Winnipesaukee's west side and taking it all to the Franklin Wastewater Treatment Facility. Lots of federal funding. A project like this for the east side of Lake Winnipesaukee would be a great bonus for lake water quality.

[hemlock]

Sewage treatment is important but it doesn't help when your infrastructure fails.

Read the below report and it will give pause.

https://www.centerharbornh.gov/sites...se_1152024.pdf

In addition the town of Wolfeboro added sewer capacity by adding to their existing spray irrigation fields what they called rapid infiltration basins near 19 mile brook. These basins very quickly failed causing nitrate levels to rise in the brook which leads to 19 mile bay.

Center Harbors sewage lagoons are also located above Lake Kanasatka.

It makes one wonder if there is leakage that is escaping notice. Blooms are being noticed in these specific areas.

[SAB1]

Idk if it’s still the case but when I went to the Lakes Region Watershed meeting in Wolfeboro it was stated in that meeting the town of Wolfeboro catching basins all along Main Street drained directly into the lake.

[Descant]

Originally Posted by SAB1

Idk if it’s still the case but when I went to the Lakes Region Watershed meeting in Wolfeboro it was stated in that meeting the town of Wolfeboro catching basins all along Main Street drained directly into the lake.

This is an unfortunate situation in many areas. Combining storm water and sewer water in many instances will overload the ability to handle that volume and the result is overflow into the river or lake. Nationally, there is a "Municipal storm sewer separation system (MS4) requirement to remedy that situation. As you would expect, this is not something that many places can fix quickly or at reasonable expense.

[Descant]

Originally Posted by hemlock

Sewage treatment is important but it doesn't help when your infrastructure fails.

Read the below report and it will give pause.

https://www.centerharbornh.gov/sites...se_1152024.pdf

In addition the town of Wolfeboro added sewer capacity by adding to their existing spray irrigation fields what they called rapid infiltration basins near 19 mile brook. These basins very quickly failed causing nitrate levels to rise in the brook which leads to 19 mile bay.

Center Harbors sewage lagoons are also located above Lake Kanasatka.

It makes one wonder if there is leakage that is escaping notice. Blooms are being noticed in these specific areas.

Thanks for pointing this out. The good part is, the system is monitored electronically and the release was caught in short order. Thus, no negative impacts. A failed septic could leach into the lake for an extended time before it is detected.

[hemlock]

Originally Posted by Descant

Thanks for pointing this out. The good part is, the system is monitored electronically and the release was caught in short order. Thus, no negative impacts. A failed septic could leach into the lake for an extended time before it is detected.

This particular report said nothing about electronic monitoring. The spill was noticed by a neighboring towns public works director as he happened to be driving home from work. The pump was started the previous day. The pump has a capacity of 300 gallons per minute. When these kinds of pumps start-up it is not uncommon for water hammer to cause a failure at a fitting or break a pipe.
It is entirely possible that the breach occurred at startup which would mean that it could have been flowing for 24 hours or more. This would mean that
400000 to 500000 gallon of untreated sewage flowed directly into Winni. The report also said that this happened previously on November 10th 2023, January 16 2024 and November 4th and 5th of 2024. The scale of this event
is not comparable to a failed septic. Take a look at the photos in the report!