2025 Awards Presented at the Annual Source Water Protection Conference

Last month, at the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services Source Water Protection Conference, Commissioner Bob Scott presented an award to the Town of Salem for outstanding work to protect the quality and sustainability of sources of drinking water in New Hampshire. Salem Engineering Director John Klipfel and Salem Water Department Director Fred Wallace received the award (pictured above).

The Commissioner presented NHDES’s Source Water Protection Award to Salem, New Hampshire for the town’s effort to address cyanobacteria in Arlington Mill Reservoir, a primary source of drinking water for the town, as well as work to reduce non-point source pollution. In 2024, Salem’s Water Department worked with NHDES to develop a strong cyanobacteria water quality monitoring program. The monitoring is now conducted under a defined monitoring plan that outlines steps to quickly detect and respond to harmful algal blooms that may affect water treatment operations and drinking water quality. Salem also took the extra step to dedicate and train staff to recognize bloom forming conditions through microscopic analysis of water samples taken near the treatment plant’s intake.

More broadly, over the last five years Salem has implemented federal Municipal Separate Sewer System (MS4) stormwater permit requirements and secured funding from NHDES to identify and limit discharges of non-point source pollutants, such as phosphorus, into the town’s lakes, ponds and rivers.