Town Getting $30K to Further Little River Tests

All Little River contamination testing sites are now "well below" state-mandated maximum levels, which officials say is good news as North Hampton enters the next phase of its work to mitigate bacteria and fecal matter issues along the watershed.

Fire Chief Dennis Cote said during Monday's North Hampton Select Board meeting that he was "very pleased" to announce the sampling results, which come on the heels of significant improvements made in identifying and correcting numerous human-related sources of contamination.

There are still several animal-related contamination issues, though, and selectmen gave Cote the authority Monday to receive a $30,000 grant to further the improvements.

The grant is roughly half of what was originally expected, so it's undetermined how the money will be specifically used, although officials said Monday any money to work on a big undertaking is welcomed.

"It sounds like a worthy cause," said Selectman Larry Miller.

Selectmen also approved Monday the expenditure of $9,989 of the to continue the Little River progress.

The money will fund more specialized testing as well as use tax office databases to build a map of septic system locations to ensure all possible sources of human contamination are fixed, according to Cote.

Cote said there are still contamination issues involving Canadian geese upstream of Shel-Al Campground — one the now-corrected human contamination hotspots — and further inland on North Road.

Contamination from raccoons at the campground may also be a large factor, he said. The multiphase project will also monitor the beach on Appledore Avenue — which has reportedly had problems with dog contamination — as well as possible runoff issues caused by numerous beaver dams backing up the river's watershed, according to Cote.

Cote said specially trained dogs could "make short work of a huge problem" and identify the types of contamination and find the source in "an hour" as a part of the two-phase program. He said it would take humans "a week" to do that work through traditional testing means.

The town will expend the $9,989 in the next fiscal year, according to Cote. North Hampton also can't yet expend the $30,000 grant, as the governor's Executive Council still needs to officially sign off on the grant and the town still needs to hold a public hearing to officially accept the funds, the match for which will be met through in-kind services..