Groundwater Withdrawal and Regulations in New Hampshire

State water law in the eastern United States is highly variable.  While almost all eastern states rely on common law (case study law interpreted by the court system), a number of states have developed additional codified (written) laws or regulations that establish regulatory processes, standards, or criteria for entities that have or want to develop large groundwater withdrawals.  Under common law, a landowner in New Hampshire has a right to the reasonable use of groundwater at their property.  For larger groundwater withdrawals, the state’s Groundwater Protection Act puts in place a withdrawal testing and impact assessment requirement to ensure that a groundwater withdrawal does not adversely impact other nearby water users or water-dependent natural resources by indelibly impairing their ability to obtain an adequate quantity or quality of water.  This act also establishes the state as the permitting authority for these withdrawals.  In general, the state criteria and standards for testing, impact evaluation and public input for obtaining a new large groundwater withdrawal permit are stringent relative to other eastern states.  New Hampshire’s legislative Groundwater Commission that was formed to assess how the state manages its groundwater resource has recently developed a plan to expand the role of local communities in the permitting process as currently administered by the state.  The plan would incorporate the results of a future water demand assessment into the state’s decision on proposed new large groundwater withdrawals, and better align the state’s groundwater withdrawal permit review process with local land use planning.