Mt. Sunapee Parking Lot Expansion and Wastewater Treatment Lagoons

April 2025 - Concerns Remain About the Mt. Sunapee Parking Lot Expansion and Wastewater Treatment Lagoons

LSPA and The Newbury Conservation Commission (NCC) remain extremely concerned about the water quality impacts of the outdated and poorly functioning wastewater treatment system in use at the Mt. Sunapee Resort since 1972. The system stores greywater effluent from septic tanks in a series of unlined lagoons.  It uses a spray irrigation system to spray effluent into three vegetated fields, but some of the spray goes into natural wetlands. Because the lagoons are unlined, they leak an unknown amount of untreated greywater into groundwater and into Beck Brook, which flows into Lake Sunapee at the State Beach. It is the oldest version of this type of system currently in use in New Hampshire, and several similar facilities in the state have been denied Department of Environmental Services (DES) permits. Yet a Groundwater Discharge Permit has been granted for Mt. Sunapee Resort’s facility despite the fact that it has regularly exceeded the required water quality standards in the permit for Total Suspended Solids (TSS) on over 50 occasions (90% of samples from 2018 – 2023) and has exceeded the Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) standard at least 15 times (approximately 25% of samples from 2018 – 2023).  Data from these monitoring well reports are publicly available on DES’s OneStop system. It is unclear why the facility remains in operation and why the state of New Hampshire has not required Vail Resorts, the lessee of state land held in public trust, to plan for the replacement of the system. You can read more about this issue below, including: 

  • LSPA's partnership with the Newbury Conservation Commission to collect additional water quality data

  • Local Representative Karen Ebel's support of local efforts to draw attention to this issue

  • LSPA's role on the Mount Sunapee Advisory Commission, which will meet again in June

  • The upcoming stakeholder meeting to be held at LSPA's Center for Lake Studies

June 2024 -LSPA’s Response to Mt. Sunapee’s Annual Operating Plan

The Mount Sunapee Advisory Commission held a meeting to discuss the Mount Sunapee Annual Operating Plan (AOP) which details a parking lot expansion at the Mount Sunapee Resort. Executive Director, Elizabeth Harper, is a chair on the Mount Sunapee Advisory Commission and was able to not only attend the meeting in June, but also to provide a position statement. The position statement included the concerns raised by LSPA and other local stakeholders including the Newbury Conservation Commission and the Friends of Mount Sunapee. In the statement Elizabeth Harper recommended that the parking lot expansion should be placed on hold until the following occur: 

  1. The integrity of the dam has been thoroughly evaluated by a qualified engineer.

  2. Extensive water quality sampling has been conducted on the seepage from the dam.

  3. An end-of-life plan is in place for the existing outdated wastewater treatment system.

  4. A comprehensive stormwater management plan is in place for the area under lease.

  5. Public hearings are held to allow for input from the community.

News Coverage Regarding the Parking Lot Project

Mt. Sunapee Resort delays new parking lot project - Christina Dolan, Valley News

State Mulls Impacts of Planned Parking Lot and Nearby Waste Lagoons at Mount Sunapee - Paula Tracy, InDepthNH.org