Disaster loans available as extreme drought area expands in New Hampshire
State officials urge water conservation
State officials urge water conservation
State officials urge water conservation
Several counties in New Hampshire have been declared disaster areas as the area of the state in extreme drought continues to expand.
The Department of Agriculture is offering emergency loans for anyone in Cheshire, Coos, Grafton and Sullivan counties who has suffered losses since June 1.
A new drought map released Thursday shows that the areas of New Hampshire now dealing with an extreme drought, known as D3, continue to expand.
"Eleven percent of the state is into D3, or extreme drought, with the rest of the state in D2 or D1," said Tom O'Donovan, director of the Water Division of the Department of Environmental Services.
The recent precipitation helped somewhat, but it was not enough to slow the expansion of the area now dealing with an extreme drought, O'Donovan said.
"From Strafford County, we did extend D3 west into the upper Merrimack Valley," O'Donovan said.
The Merrimack River is down about a foot from where it should be at this time of year. Conditions are still better place than they were in August.
About 400,000 Granite Staters are dealing with some sort of water restrictions, according to the state, and groundwater levels are continuing to decline.
"This impacts well systems across the state, both for community water systems and residential wells," O'Donovan said.
He said residents can look for a few things to determine if they should be concerned about their wells.
"Look around your neighborhood and see what your surface waters look like," he said. "Are your ponds low? Are your streams low? If they are, that's telling you that surface waters and groundwaters are falling in your neighborhood."
Other indicators of a problem include changes in the color, taste or smell of well water.
O'Donovan said water conservation is increasingly important.
"You should work to make sure that your children understand when they're brushing their teeth to turn the water off. Really simple things like that," he said. "Running full dishwashers and full laundry loads."
Groundwater could be recharged before the ground freezes in late December or early January. After that point, no more water will find its way underground.
"Only rivers and streams and ponds that are not frozen on the bottom then contribute to groundwater," O'Donovan said. "And that will set us up in a not good place going into wintertime and springtime."