Arsenic concentrations in private bedrock wells in southeastern New Hampshire

Abstract

Southeastern New Hampshire is a rapidly growing region that has been identified as having moderate to high concentrations of arsenic in drinking water from ground-water sources (Ayotte and others, 2003; Ayotte and others, 1999; Peters and others, 1999). Southeastern New Hampshire, comprised of Hillsborough, Rockingham, and Strafford Counties ( fig. 1 ), has grown in population by more than 84,500 or 12 percent over the past decade to more than 770,400 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2000). These counties contain 62 percent of the State's population, but encompass only about 22 percent of New Hampshire's land area. More than 37 percent of the population in New Hampshire uses private wells as a source for drinking water (U.S. Census Bureau, 1990).