The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services has announced the award of a third round of funding to the Wentworth Watershed Association and the Town of Wolfeboro for implementation of the Wentworth-Crescent Watershed Management Plan.
The Watershed Assistance Grant will provide $50,000 in EPA-funded monies for stormwater mitigation projects along Route 109 and for shoreline and parking lot areas at Camp Bernadette. Combined with in-kind contributions of labor, materials, and volunteer effort from the Town and Wentworth Watershed Association, the grant has a total value of $103,000.
The grant represents the second implementation phase of the watershed-wide management plan that was completed in 2013.
The first implementation phase was funded by $120,000 in Clean Water Act monies, $25,000 in cash from the Association, and another $125,000 of in-kind labor, materials, and volunteer hours from both the Town and the Association. That project is scheduled for completion at the end of this year.
That second grant saw installation of a significant stormwater mitigation structure behind Auto Care Plus on Route 28 to protect Fernald Brook from runoff delivered by acres of impervious surfaces in the area.<!–more–>
With the support of John and Karen Manelas, owners of the car repair facility, the Association and the Town oversaw installation of large detention basins to capture and infiltrate runoff from parking areas and building roofs before that water can reach the brook and, eventually, the lakes.
Extensive testing of water in the stream, both before and after installation of the stormwater structures, is aimed at quantifying the amount of various pollutants removed from the tributary. The results will be part of the grant report to the state and federal governments.
Also part of that grant effort is installation of stormwater mitigation structures in the Gene’s Beach area of Route 109 and development of engineering plans for a long-needed stormwater mitigation effort along South Main Street. The work on Route 109 will take place in the fall.
The South Main Street project is expected to deal with some destructive runoff that has damaged private property in the area and caused significant changes in Crescent Lake.
Phosphorus and sediment from such runoff is responsible for increased weed growth in water bodies as well as sedimentation at the mouth of streams, creating impassible areas along the shoreline and increasing areas of silty deposits around the lakes.
The newly awarded grant, approved by Governor Chris Sununu and the Executive Council in late August, will address a second problem along Route 109 in the area of Triggs Landing, where planned stabilization of the roadside will control and filter runoff before it enters Lake Wentworth. At Camp Bernadette, mitigation structures will be aimed at controlling runoff from extensive impervious areas that currently flow directly into Wentworth.