Virginia's Water Quality: Issues and Initiatives 
Virginia Water Quality Improvement Fund
Revised Water Quality Improvement Fund Guidelines - (pdf, 83 K)
Legislation passed during the 2006 legislative session (SB644 – Watkins) amended the Water Quality Improvement Fund (“Fund”) with respect to several issues pertaining to point source dischargers. As a result, the guidelines governing the distribution of point source pollution grants from the Fund have been revised.
In brief, SB644 required the following changes:
- Expanding the definition of point source facilities that are eligible to receive grants to include "Eligible nonsignificant dischargers";
- Changing the requirement for numerical concentration limits in grant agreements so that they are based upon the technology installed at the facility ("technology-based limits");
- Revising, and more clearly defining, the allowable exceedences of the numerical concentration limits contained in grant agreements; and
- Allowing for suspension of numerical concentration limits in grant agreements for facilities which have received approval, by the State Water Control Board, for alternative compliance methods with technology-based concentration limits in their discharge permits.
In addition to the changes prompted by legislative amendments, a few technical revisions have been made that deal with grant administration. The most notable of these are:
- Specifying when grant agreements will be signed;
- Clarifying how the applicable grant percentage is calculated; and
- Detailing the calculation of any monetary penalties resulting from non-compliance.
Statewide Tributary Strategies
- Letter from former Sec. of Natural Resources Tayloe Murphy on Statewide Tributary Strategy (Word, 48 K)
- Final Statewide Tributary Strategy (pdf, 3.4 Mb)
- Eastern Shore Tributary Strategy (pdf, 2.9 Mb)
- James River Tributary Strategy (pdf, 7.9 Mb)
- Rappahanock River Tributary Strategy (pdf, 4.0 Mb)
- Shenandoah-Potomac Tributary Strategy (pdf, 4.6 Mb)
- York River Tributary Strategy (pdf, 4.1 Mb)
