Research snapshot · Water · 31 August 2026

Pfas and contaminants in New Hampshire: 37 towns on the record, the pace easing

This page is a snapshot, cut 31 August 2026, of a topic that moves. Below is the shape of the movement, read from the towns' own meeting records, and the way to get a view of it that stays current.

Snapshot taken 31 August 2026, based on 80 dated municipal records flagged as pfas and contaminants in New Hampshire, spanning 37 municipalities. The topic moves; a later cut supersedes this page.

What this page is for one topic at state or national scope, told as a story: how it arrived, the shape of its movement, a dated snapshot of a moving record, and the door to a view of it that stays current. If it does not, write to us; that is what changes the next edition.

The story so far

The record starts in Portsmouth, 1 January 2022. Since then 37 New Hampshire towns have put the topic on a meeting record, the newest of them Belmont on 29 June 2026.

The last 90 days put 7 meetings on the record, well down from 21 in the 90 days before.

It runs through the rooms where budgets and ordinances are made: Conservation Commission, Planning Board and Select Board.

The shape of the movement

Dated meetings on the record at this scope, quarter by quarter, and the same 90-day count as a rolling line, whose right-hand point is that number. Counts of documents, never a reading of what they decided.
QuarterMeetingsTowns
Sep 2025 to Nov 202532
Dec 2025 to Feb 20262617
Mar 2026 to May 20262315
Jun 2026 to Aug 2026 (current)74

a rolling 90-day total, so the right-hand point is that same 90-day count. The busiest stretch was Dec 2025 to Feb 2026, with 26 meetings.

The towns on the record37, earliest first

Every New Hampshire town carrying the topic, the earliest first, each with its latest document.
Portsmouthearliest 2022-01-01 · 6 meetings · latest 2026-02-25 · the agenda Town Council Meeting agenda - if 2/23/26 cancelled due to inclement weather
Salemearliest 2023-06-01 · 1 meeting · latest 2023-06-01 · the document June 2023 Beach Testing Results
Laconiaearliest 2024-05-01 · 2 meetings · latest 2026-02-18 · the minutes Minutes — Conservation Commission
Hooksettearliest 2024-10-03 · 1 meeting · latest 2024-10-03 · the minutes Budget Committee — 10.03.2024bcm
Strathamearliest 2025-01-01 · 1 meeting · latest 2025-01-01 · the minutes 5 5 2025 select board minutes
Ossipeeearliest 2025-01-08 · 3 meetings · latest 2025-08-13 · the agenda Conservation Commission Regular Meeting Agenda (PDF)
Canterburyearliest 2025-01-14 · 2 meetings · latest 2026-07-16 · a report 2025 Canterbury Master Plan – Plan For Tomorrow
Hanoverearliest 2025-01-27 · 2 meetings · latest 2025-03-24 · the minutes Minutes — Selectboard
Newburyearliest 2025-02-03 · 3 meetings · latest 2026-03-24 · the minutes Minutes — Blodgett Sewer User Advisory Committee Meeting
Rindgeearliest 2025-02-10 · 4 meetings · latest 2026-01-12 · the minutes Conservation Commission — RCC Minutes 011226
East Kingstonearliest 2025-06-19 · 1 meeting · latest 2025-06-19 · the minutes Minutes — Planning Board
Merrimackearliest 2025-07-10 · 4 meetings · latest 2025-10-09 · the minutes Minutes — Town Council
Leeearliest 2025-10-21 · 1 meeting · latest 2025-10-21 · the minutes Minutes — Lamprey River Advisory Committee
Bristolearliest 2026-01-07 · 1 meeting · latest 2026-01-07 · the minutes Minutes — Conservation Commission
Durhamearliest 2026-01-07 · 8 meetings · latest 2026-03-04 · the minutes Minutes — Integrated Waste Management Advisory Committee

And 22 more towns on the record, in an account view.

From the record

The most recent documents behind this page, one per town. Each link opens the town's own file.

13 August 2026 · Alton

the minutes, on the town's own site ConCom Minutes 08-13-2026

5 August 2026 · Belmont

the minutes, on the town's own site Selectmen’s Minutes 08/05/2026

16 July 2026 · Canterbury

a report, on the town's own site 2025 Canterbury Master Plan – Plan For Tomorrow

15 June 2026 · Keene

the document, on the town's own site 2026_04_20_CONS_Minutes_Adopted

Companies on this record260 companies, 69 documents

Named in the same documents that carry this topic, read from the record itself: the firms designing, building and advising the work, each with where the record places them:
NHDESAlton, Belmont, Danville and 6 more
Casella Waste SystemsDurham, Greenland, Stratham
CasellaDurham, Stratham
AmazonAlton, Greenland, Rye and 1 more
AT&TAlton, Greenland, Stratham
Advanced Drainage SystemsAlton, Greenland, Stratham
AECOMAlton, Greenland, Stratham
AES CorporationAlton, Greenland, Stratham
AirgasAlton, Greenland, Stratham
American Water WorksAlton, Greenland, Stratham
ArcadisAlton, Greenland, Stratham
NHACCChesterfield, Ossipee, Rindge
Algonquin Power & UtilitiesHanover, Stratham
American Water Works (AWK)Ossipee, Stratham
CDW CorporationAlton, Greenland
FB EnvironmentalLaconia, Stratham
H2O AmericaBelmont, Marlborough
PennichuckBelmont, Marlborough
SELTEpping, Lee
STANTECNewbury, Portsmouth
Merrimack Village District (MVD)Merrimack
New Hampshire Fish and GameMerrimack
TEP OPCO, LLCMerrimack
3M CompanyStratham
5 & 9 Shields WayAlton
AARPChesterfield
Ace Cleanouts Services, Inc.East Kingston
Adam & Eve FrisellaAlton
Adobe (ADBE)Stratham
Advance Auto Parts (AAP)Stratham

And 230 more companies.

The documents naming each, and the threads they sit in, are the account view. If one of these is you, those are your projects on the record. Ask and we will show you every one, and the towns around them, as they move.

A snapshot of a moving record

Everything above is frozen at 31 August 2026; the topic is not. 97 more events on this topic carry no usable date and are counted, never dated. The counts follow where we read most: a town or a state absent here was not read at depth, and absence is not evidence the topic is absent there. A lighter-read state is not a ceiling; where you care about a region, pointing the system there is the first thing an account changes. How coverage is built, and its known limits: municipalalpha.com/methodology.

How we can tell you about it ongoing

We track this topic continuously; this page is one cut of it, taken 31 August 2026. An account turns the snapshot into a working view: every town and every document behind these counts, the thread on each matter as it develops, word of new meetings as they land on the record, your own states and topics side by side, and the data itself when you want it in a table. The towns above are the taste; what each is actually deciding, funding or stalling is the read an account carries.

Also at this scope: Pfas and contaminants across the country. The site's story on this topic: PFAS Is Spreading Through Municipal Agendas Faster Than Groundwater. Counts and dates are computed from the documents on the record; the topic and its definition are ours. This page carries no subscriber content.

Pfas and contaminants, New Hampshire

from the towns' own meeting records

Scope

New Hampshire

every topic this state carries

Area

Water

every topic in this area

Towns on the record

37

with a dated document on this topic

Earliest

1 January 2022

the documents' dates

Meetings, last 90 days

7 against 21 before

dated documents

Snapshot cut

31 August 2026

this page's date

A view that stays current

ask for yours