NOAA Awards More Than $500,000 To New Hampshire Department Of Environmental Services For River Management

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration granted $545,000 to the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services to create a river instream flow management program. NOAA is an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

The grant will support the development and implementation of a program designed to maintain instream flow rates at appropriate levels in the Lamprey and Souhegan Rivers. The program will include projects to assess the biological needs for water flow in the rivers, consultation with stakeholders to determine human uses of the water, and development of the plan for water management. This program will affect recreational, industrial and agricultural users that withdraw stream water from the Lamprey and Souhegan Rivers, and it could provide a model for resolving water use conflicts around the nation.

“NOAA hopes that through this grant we can help protect New Hampshire’s riverside communities, and at the same time, provide state officials with the tools that they need to manage resources,” said retired Navy Vice Adm. Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “NOAA and the Bush Administration are working to improve the understanding of our environment and strengthen local river protection initiatives like those in New Hampshire.”

Each year, NOAA awards approximately $900 million in grants to members of the academic, scientific and business communities to assist the agency in fulfilling its mission to study the Earth’s natural systems in order to predict environmental change, manage ocean resources, protect life and property, and provide decision makers with reliable scientific information. NOAA’s goals and programs reflect a commitment to these basic responsibilities of science and service to the nation for the past 34 years.

NOAA is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and providing environmental stewardship of our nation’s coastal and marine resources. To learn more about NOAA, please visit http://www.noaa.gov.