Update: The Lake Is at Its Lowest Mid-July Level on Record — and Regulators Are Now Engaged

To everyone who signed and shared this petition:

We've crossed 597 signatures across more than 100 communities. Thank you. That number matters — it shows this isn't just a handful of lakefront neighbors. It's a broad coalition of people who care about Canobie Lake and New Hampshire's public waters.

Here's where things stand.

The lake is at a record low — right now.

As of July 10, 2026, Canobie Lake is at 217.60 feet — 2.40 feet below the top of the outlet flashboards, and the lowest July 10 reading in nine years of recorded data. The spring 2026 peak of 218.76 feet was the lowest spring high-water mark ever recorded in our dataset. The lake never recovered from winter, and it has continued to drop through a season of declared drought.

Salem admitted peak single-day demand of approximately 5 million gallons.

Through public records requests under RSA 91-A, we obtained internal Salem utility emails. A June 15, 2026 email from Salem's Director of Municipal Services to the Deputy Director of Utilities acknowledges combined system demand of approximately 5 million gallons on a single day — more than twice the lake's permitted average safe yield of 2.01 million gallons per day, established by state order in 1996 and never updated.

We filed a formal complaint with NHDES.

On June 18, 2026, we filed a formal complaint with the NH Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) Division of Water Supply — the state agency responsible for enforcing Salem's withdrawal permit. The complaint documents 26+ consecutive years of operation at or above the permitted safe yield, the absence of any updated safe yield assessment, and the lake's current record-low trajectory. The complaint is now with NHDES enforcement staff.

We formally asked Windham's legislators to act.

We sent individually tailored letters to all six of Windham's state legislators — including State Senator Regina Birdsell and five state representatives — asking each to press NHDES for enforcement action on behalf of their constituents. Those letters were co-signed by 20 Windham lakefront abutters.

We presented findings to the Windham Board of Selectmen.

A formal letter — backed by a full data report and signed by 20 lakefront neighbors — has been submitted to the Windham Board of Selectmen asking them to formally engage on the lake's behalf. The Board has the standing, the precedent (Cobbetts Pond), and the responsibility to act.

What we're watching next:

• NHDES enforcement response to the June 18 complaint
• Whether any new large-scale demand connection (particularly Tuscan Village Life Sciences) is approved before an updated safe yield study is completed
• Weekly lake level readings — we are tracking every data point through the summer

If you know someone in Salem, Windham, or anywhere in the Merrimack Valley who cares about how New Hampshire manages its public waters, please share this petition. Every signature adds to the public record.

We will keep you posted.

— Kanishka Wijayasiri
Windham, NH