The issue involving Great Bay, the Piscataqua River, and the City of Portsmouth, New Hampshire is a microcosm of what is going on around the country.  The Piscataqua River is my “home” river, forms the border between New Hampshire and Maine, and I wrote a article for Fly Fisherman Magazine (September 2009)  about fishing Great Bay and the Piscataqua River.  So both areas, are connected and are very special places for me.   The problem is that Great Bay, while a tremendous natural resource, is dying.  According to state and local officials, more stringent standards are needed to “reverse years of decline in eel grass populations and water quality.”  In a 2009 report, of the 12 indicators of environmental health used, like dissolved oxygen, clam concentrations, etc., 11 of the them are either classified as cautionary or negative, up from 7 of 12 in 2008.  Something needs to be done, however, according to an article in the Seacoast Sunday edition of the Portsmouth Herald, the city of Portsmouth is concerned their tax payers may have to shoulder the bulk of the burden to comply with those standards.  While the project of improving water quality in the Piscataqua, one of the major rivers contributing to Great Bay, may be necessary, the cost of the project of upgrading Portsmouth’s wastewater treatment plant in this economy may be prohibitive.  (Downstream, but caught in a dilemma.)

While most agree that the projects are necessary and inextricably tied together, with the budgetary shortfalls facing most cities, and Portsmouth, NH is no exception, paying for the $63-100 million dollar upgrade to the wastewater treatment plant seems like a pipe dream.  Rough estimates say that the sewer bills for local residents could jump from $600/year to $2000/year immediately.  For those who are just making it now, those who are unemployed or underemployed, that would be disastrous.  But no one said projects didn’t have trade-offs with quality, cost and time, did they?  After all, that’s what project managers are all about, managing those project constraints.  How these projects and the other similar, environment protecting projects, fair in this time economic uncertainly will go a long way to determine not only the persistence of environmental issues, but also the sustainability of the environment itself.