DPW Press Releases

The Portsmouth and Pease drinking water systems continue to experience high demand in both systems due to irrigation and cooling system usage. In the last month the combined system demands have averaged 5.4 million gallons a day. Fortunately, water levels in both the City's reservoir and groundwater sources are holding up and system operators are managing the system such that water supplies are meeting these demands.

As the Department of Public Works continues to keep City property clear of obstructions and its lawns and gardens trimmed, the Parks & Greenery Department asks for residents help in keeping sidewalks and roadway sight lines clear.

Private property owners are required by City ordinance to keep the plants and shrubs on their property trimmed so as not to interfere with or obscure public property. This means keeping hedges bordering sidewalks and plants that might obstruct visibility at driveway and road intersections trimmed back. 

The City Water Department has published the Water Supply Report for the Second Quarter of 2024. Leading the report is detailed information regarding the fact that the Portsmouth and Pease drinking water systems are currently experiencing very high demands in the system due to irrigation and cooling system demands. 

In September 2023, the City of Portsmouth was notified that it had received $965,333 in Congressionally Directed Spending from the Federal Pre-Disaster Mitigation Grant Program through the NH Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management for the Peirce Island Road Resiliency Project. Work on the project is scheduled to start the wee

The City of Portsmouth’s Mosquito Control Program begins monitoring on April 8, 2024. Crews from Dragon Mosquito Control, Inc., the City’s contracted service, will be checking swamps, salt marshes, woodland pools, ditches, catch basins and other shallow, stagnant water for mosquito larvae.

Seasonal construction projects throughout the City are scheduled to resume on April 9, 2024 and the Department of Public Works is hosting public pre- construction meetings for each project.

Recorded meetings and presentations are available on the City’s website for the following:

The City of Portsmouth Department of Public Works Water Division begins its seasonal routine flushing of fire hydrants and water mains on Monday, April 1, 2024. The flushing will take place at various locations, Monday through Thursday, between 7 am and 11 pm, and is expected to take six weeks to complete.

The Portsmouth Department of Public Works will hold its biannual meeting on Household Hazardous Waste Collection Day on Saturday, April 13, 2024, at the Public Works facility at 680 Peverly Hill Road. Residents of Portsmouth, Greenland and Newington are encouraged to bring household chemicals for safe disposal between 8 am and 12 noon. Proof of residency is required.

Household hazardous waste collections help residents safely dispose of items that can harm their health, the environment and drinking water supplies.

Islington Street Corridor Reconstruction Project Resumes in April with Public Meeting on March 19, 2024

In November 2023, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a Lead and Copper Rule Improvement requirement that all water suppliers complete an inventory of the material in all water service lines – the pipes that deliver drinking water from the public water mains into abutting properties. The City of Portsmouth Water Division will visually inspect water service lines where they enter residential and commercial buildings to determine the material type.