Save Our Groundwater, a regional citizens action group organized to protect water resources, recently sent the biennial Water Issues Candidates Survey to 90 candidates for governor, House of Representatives and the Senate. A third of the candidates returned the survey.

The survey yielded a bipartisan response (53 percent were Democrats and 47 percent Republicans). Two candidates for the New Hampshire Senate responded to the survey, as did 26 candidates for the House of Representatives.

Of those responding, 94 percent were in favor of legislation that would safeguard and prioritize the sustainable use and conservation of N.H.”s freshwater resources; 97 percent were in favor of keeping municipal water companies locally owned; and 96 percent were in favor of the development and implementation of a hierarchy of water users.

If a hierarchy of water users were established, a majority of respondents indicated that their highest priority would be for public/municipal use. In descending order, this was followed by residential use, agricultural use, recreational use and business use.

Full results are available online at www.saveourgroundwater.org.

Save Our Groundwater formed more than five years ago in response to a 2001 large groundwater withdrawal permit application from USA Springs, Inc., a bottled water company that owns a 100-acre parcel of land in the towns of Nottingham and Barrington, just off Route 4.

In 2003, the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services denied the company the necessary state permits to extract water for 27 reasons of science, only to later reverse its decision in 2004, granting a 10-year conditional permit for the company to withdraw 112,000,000 gallons a year.

Hearings contesting the state’s decision are still in process before Rockingham County Superior Court, the New Hampshire Department of Transportation, the DES Water Council and the DES Wetlands Council.