Protecting the Great Bay estuary.

• Position: NEW HAMPSHIRE - Brief article

In a long-awaited decision critical to the health of New Hampshire's Great Bay estuary and southern Maine's coastal resources, the Environmental Protection Agency agreed with CLF that the City of Portsmouth must adopt more stringent, secondary treatment at its Peirce Island sewage treatment plant. The plant is the largest in the Seacoast, discharging an average of 4.5 million gallons per day of wastewater into the tidal Piscataqua River-a critical part of the estuary.

The City had requested EPA's permission to continue operating the plant with only primary treatment, and to address water quality concerns by simply extending its outfall pipe farther into the...