New Hampshire Public Waters

The NH Department of Environmental Services (DES) maintains the Official List of Public Waters (OLPW). This document lists great ponds and artificial impoundments of 10 acres or more in the State of New Hampshire.

If you are looking to buy a property on a lake or river in New Hampshire it is useful to know how large the water body is. Not all lakes are suitable for swimming or boating so a god place to look for information is the Official List of Public Waters for New Hampshire. This will tell you how large the water body is.  If you know the name of the lake or river or if you would like to get a list of all bodies over a certain size you can perform a search on all New Hampshire water bodies to get more information.

The NH Department of Environmental Services (DES) maintains the Official List of Public Waters (OLPW). This document lists great ponds and artificial impoundments of 10 acres or more in the State of New Hampshire.

"Public waters" in New Hampshire are prescribed by common law as great ponds (natural waterbodies of 10 acres or more in size), tidal waters, and public rivers. These common law public waters are held by the State in trust for the people of New Hampshire. Several New Hampshire statutes define public waters in different ways, solely for the purpose of applying the specific statutes. Some of these statutory definitions include artificial impoundments of 10 acres or more in size.

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