On the valley floor in Tamworth, water mostly isn’t the problem. It sinks. The low ground along the Bearcamp sits on glacial sand and gravel that swallows a downspout in seconds — and that same sand is the stratified-drift aquifer the town voted 231 to 43 to protect in 2023. Good drainage here is half moving water and half keeping what’s in the water out of the ground.
Nearly all of Tamworth drains to one river. The Bearcamp enters from Sandwich where the Cold River joins it, runs east along Route 25 through South Tamworth and Whittier, and takes in the Swift — which begins up north where Paugus Brook meets the Wonalancet River — and the Chocorua, coming down beside Route 16 from the lake. Between its source in Sandwich Notch and Ossipee Lake the Bearcamp falls about a thousand feet in 26 miles. When the hills get a hard rain, it reaches the valley in a hurry.
Tamworth’s Groundwater Protection Ordinance took effect January 1, 2024. The district covers the stratified-drift aquifer and the wellhead protection areas around public water supply wells. Inside it, bulk outdoor road-salt storage, junkyards and gas stations are prohibited outright, and regulated substances stored outdoors have to sit at least 50 feet from surface water or storm drains and 75 feet from private wells. A private house is exempt from the performance standards. A business storing fuel or chemicals in the district generally isn’t.
Up on the slopes it flips. Till doesn’t take water, so it sheets downhill until it meets a foundation. Wet cellars in Tamworth are mostly a hillside problem, not a valley one.
If your Tamworth lot is on the valley sand, ask whether it’s inside the Groundwater Protection District before you plan any drainage. It shapes where the water should go.
On the sand we keep it simple and keep it shallow. Roof water goes to drip-edge trenches, rain gardens or a grassed swale, where it soaks in through topsoil and roots on the way down. Soil is a filter. A dry well punched into clean gravel skips the filter, and over a public-supply aquifer that’s the wrong trade to make.
On the hillside lots we intercept it. A trench across the slope uphill of the house, perforated pipe in washed stone with fabric around it, carried out to a spot where it can daylight. Gutters that dump at the corner of the house get extended. And the yard gets regraded to fall away from the wall instead of toward it — the cheapest fix there is, and it solves more wet basements than any pipe.
Near the rivers we check the floodplain map before anything else. Floodplain development takes a town permit, and FEMA AE ground doesn’t even count toward lot size. Outlets get stone aprons. Nothing gets aimed straight at a brook.
Curtain and French drains in Tamworth run $2,000–$8,000 depending on length, depth and how far it is to daylight. Swales, rain gardens and regrading on the valley sand often come in under that. Culverts run $800 to $1,500 installed. Floodplain work is quoted after we’ve seen the map and the lot. Flat quote either way.
If it sits on the mapped stratified-drift aquifer or inside a wellhead protection area for a public water supply, yes. The town’s district map, dated 2022 and revisable by the Planning Board, shows the boundary. Most of the Bearcamp valley floor is sand and gravel, so lots down there are the likeliest candidates.
Mostly not. Private residences are exempt from its performance standards. The prohibited uses, like bulk outdoor road-salt piles, junkyards and gas stations, still apply to everyone in the district. Businesses storing regulated substances in containers of five gallons or more are the ones who carry the real obligations.
You can, but on Tamworth’s aquifer we’d rather not lead with one. A dry well sends water straight into clean gravel with nothing to filter it. A drip-edge trench, rain garden or grassed swale soaks the same water in through soil first, which costs about the same and protects the wells downstream.
Because you’re on till. Up the slopes the soil won’t take water, so rain and snowmelt run downhill along the surface until they hit your foundation. An interceptor drain uphill of the house and a regraded yard usually fix it. Valley sand rarely has that problem.
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