The state will get a better handle on the impact of pollutants in New Hampshire with a five-year, $3.5 million cooperative agreement to track environmentally related issues such as asthma, cardiovascular disease, cancer and birth outcomes.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta is providing funding to the N.H. Department of Environmental Services and the N.H. Department of Health and Human Services, starting with $663,121 to initiate five years of support for this developing system.

“Over time, this system will help to better determine which environmental factors play a key role in the development of illness and the protection of public health,” said DES Commissioner Michael Nolin in a press release.

This funding is part of $22 million in competitive funds won by 17 states and cities as part of legislation approved by Congress in 2005 to support a national system for environmental public health Ttracking. Regionally, partners will include the University of New Hampshire, U.S. Geological Survey, and the states of Maine and New York. New Hampshire already monitors infectious and chronic diseases, but this will be the first effort to track multiple environmental health issues in the state over time. This second phase of funding is being awarded to address gaps in environmental health data sets and to standardize them to better track trends over time and by location.