Windham & Salem, New Hampshire
Canobie is near record lows, again. Yet there are no limits to water usage.
New Hampshire capped withdrawals from this lake for eighteen years. In 2014, that cap quietly expired — and nothing replaced it. No permit. No volumetric limit. No number Salem has to answer to.
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4 million gallons. What does that even mean?
On the worst days, Salem pulls 4.48 million gallons from this lake alone. Here's what that actually looks like.
0
gallons pulled from Canobie Lake on a single peak day
6.8
Olympic pools. Drained. In one day.
2.1–2.3
MGD average pulled by the system, year-round.
12
Years with no volumetric limit in place.
Our mission
The Canobie Lake Stewardship Alliance works to restore science-based oversight of water withdrawals from Canobie Lake — because a lake healthy enough to sustain a loon is a lake healthy enough for everyone who depends on it.
Canobie Lake is public. It doesn't belong to the Town of Salem, or to any water utility. We're the residents who live on it, and we're done watching it drop with no one accountable.
We're not asking Salem to stop drawing water. We're asking for what New Hampshire had for eighteen years: a real limit, backed by science, enforced.
Everything here comes from public records, the state's own words, and independent data. No speculation.
Why a loon
The first to leave a lake in trouble.
At the center of our mark is the common loon — a bird inseparable from the identity of Canobie Lake and the sound of summer nights on the water. Loons need clean, stable water levels to nest, feed, and raise their young; when a lake's health declines, they're often among the first to disappear.
We wove the loon into our logo not as decoration, but as a quiet reminder of what's actually at stake. The waves beneath it are the lake itself — the shared resource we're here to protect.
Just as the loon depends on Canobie Lake to survive and thrive, so do we — and so does everyone who calls its shores home.
More is being built. Right now.
While the lake sits near a record low, Salem's largest development in its history is moving forward — with more water demand on the way.
0
gallons a day of additional water demand projected for Tuscan Village under its latest Master Plan update
Source: Tuscan Village Development letter to the Town of Salem's Director of Engineering, June 30, 2026, Master Plan Update 3.0 water usage submission.
That demand lands on the same water system that already pulls an average of 2.1–2.3 MGD, with peak Canobie Lake withdrawals reaching 4.48 MGD. No updated safe-yield assessment has been ordered before approving it.
How much more can this lake actually give — and who's checking?
See it for yourself
Dated, location-tagged photos from Windham lakefront properties.
There is no time to wait.
Twelve years already gone with no limit in place. The regional pipeline that 's supposed to ease pressure on this lake is still years from delivering a single extra gallon. Waiting for the next drought to force action is not a plan — it's how we got here the first time.
A safe-yield study can be ordered today under existing NHDES authority. It doesn't require new legislation, a funded pipeline, or a crisis. Every week without it is a week closer to finding out the hard way.
Don't watch this from the sidelines
Add your name. Be there when it counts.
One short email when the lake level moves, when a hearing is scheduled, and when your voice can change the outcome. Nothing else, ever.
Neighbors in Windham and Salem are already on the list.
Get in touch. Speak up.
We keep neighbors in the loop and welcome new hands — technical, legal, or just local knowledge.
Contact the Alliance
- General inquiries
- hello@savecanobielake.org
- Mailing address
- PO Box 000, Windham, NH 03087 (pending — USPS box not yet assigned)
- Are you a concerned citizen in Salem or Windham?
- We're building a cross-town coalition — reach out to be added.
- Press
- Available for interviews on the regulatory record and water-level data.