GET PUMPED! NEW HAMPSHIRE: What Every City and Town Should Know about Keeping Drinking Water Clean
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The information contained in this article is not intended as legal advice and may no longer be accurate due to changes in the law. Consult NHMA's legal services or your municipal attorney.
My name is Darlene Johnson, I am the Outreach Coordinator for a trade association of Septic Pumpers known as NHASH - the New Hampshire Association of Septage Haulers. NHASH members have been working with customers throughout the State of New Hampshire for over 40 years, educating them about protecting the ground and surface waters in their own back yards and neighborhoods. Even after all of these years and thousands of customer interactions, there’s always been the nagging feeling we could be doing more. A few years back, I heard of GET PUMPED! Similar programs in Rhode Island and New York were formed to educate the public about protecting their great bodies of water such as Narragansett Bay and the Long Island Sound. Where they’ve succeeded in their efforts is to heighten the importance of how each individual can do their part to assist in protecting our clean water resources.
Recently, in conjunction with several divisions of New Hampshire’s Department of Environmental Services (NHDES), NHASH and NHDES launched a program called Get Pumped! New Hampshire. Get Pumped! New Hampshire is an educational program that promotes septic pumping. Routine septic pumping extends the life span of properly operational leaching systems, thus preventing ground water and surface water contamination as a result of a failing leaching system. It’s a proven fact that failed leaching systems contaminate water sources. It is also proven that maintaining a septic tank prolongs the proper function of the leaching system. Get Pumped! New Hampshire offers a $10.00 rebate to participating homeowners who hire a septage hauler that is a NHASH member. After you’ve had your septic tank pumped by a NHASH hauler, simply visit Get Pumped! NH’s website: GETPUMPEDNH.com, follow the rebate steps and mail in your rebate form – it’s as easy as that! You’ll receive your $10.00 check in return within days.
Throughout New Hampshire, we have many of bodies of water that rely on our citizens to keep them clean. In some cases, homes are on bodies of water such as ponds and lakes and in other cases, homes are located on hill or mountain sides where water runs into streams and rivers, then into ponds or the “Great Bay” on New Hampshire’s pristine coastline. Remember: Just because you may not be able to see the runoff, doesn’t mean it’s not present. It may happen above or below ground.
It is NHASH’s intent to brand the phrase “GET PUMPED! NH”, a phrase we would like to hear mentioned in every municipality. GET PUMPED! NH can educate those who may be new to our rural communities, or those who didn’t know their responsibilities of septage system ownership, and how it can affect their neighborhood or beyond. Get Pumped! New Hampshire is a limited funded program. It is our hope that by sharing this information with you, municipalities might take interest in this program, recognize the importance and perhaps be able to lend a helping hand. We’d love to have the support of municipalities, especially those under a MS4 mandate, to help us promote this campaign. Promotion of this program via municipal offices, websites, newsletters, etc. would be greatly appreciated! Any additional funding support would allow us to promote this program further, perhaps by offering a larger rebate and/or paying more rebates statewide.
