If You Build It


Soccer is big in the small, coastal town of Kittery, Maine. Kids join peewee league at three, and the high school brings home state championships. When soccer fever outgrew existing facilities, the town decided to install a new field. The spot they chose was close to another object of Kittery’s devotion—Spruce Creek, a scenic river that enjoys the support of local citizens groups.

Where others may have seen conflict brewing, Richard Rossiter saw opportunity; the field could serve as a model for stormwater management that protects water quality.

“I was concerned that fertilizers in the runoff from the Haley field project might harm Spruce Creek,” explains Rossiter, Kittery’s commissioner of public works and a member of the community-based Spruce Creek Association. “I had been to a stormwater workshop at UNH, and thought, ‘why not apply these ideas to the new field?’“

The 32-year veteran of public works soon found himself working with innovative low-impact development (LID) technologies that treat stormwater runoff as a resource, rather than a hazard. With the support of Dr. Robert Roseen from the CICEET-sponsored University of New Hampshire Stormwater Center, he developed designs for a three-part system to reduce runoff created by the new field, and to treat the pollution it contains.

“We wanted a comprehensive system that would treat the first inch of rain, that ‘first flush’ that contains most of the pollutants,” says Rossiter. “It also had to be cost-effective in terms of maintenance.”


Testing stormwater treatment systems at the University of New Hampshire
The designs call for the entire field to act as a subsurface sand filter. Rossiter predicts the four-inch layer of sand under the loam will be able to handle several inches of rainfall. Drainpipes will carry any overflow to a gravel wetland, designed by UNH researchers, that removes excess nitrogen and other pollutants commonly found in stormwater. The third component is a porous pavement parking lot that sharply reduces runoff associated with impervious surfaces.

“Stormwater management has come a long way since I started in public works,” says Rossiter. “There’s recognition now that it’s important to study what causes the problem, and then come up with ways to fix it. The UNH center is doing a great job by doing the research and sharing the results. That’s what we need.”

CICEET home

Richard Rossiter
Commissioner of Public Works and
soccer enthusiasts from Shapleigh Middle School


Read more coastal management stories from CICEET's 2006 Annual Report >

The CICEET-sponsored University of New Hampshire Stormwater Center evaluates the effectiveness of stormwater treatment systems in protecting water quality. The only one of its kind in the country, the center has an active outreach program that supports the development of effective stormwater programs throughout New England. Center researchers collaborated with many organizations on stormwater management projects in 2006, including the following:

  • Kittery Public Works Department

  • Maine Department of Transportation

  • Stonyfield Farm

  • Univeristy of Vermont

  • Conservation of Law Foundation

  • New Hampshire Department of Transportation
  • Great Bay National Estuarine Reasearch Reserve

  • Advanced Drainage Systems

  • National Concrete Association

  • Aquashield

  • Hydro International