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Clean Water

Overview :

Virginia is a water-rich state with 9 major river basins : the Potomac, Rappahannock, Shenandoah, James, York, Roanoke, New, Tennessee/Big Sandy River, Chowan and Dismal Swamp, and (part of) the Chesapeake Bay. These river basins contain 50,357 miles of river, 116,058 sq miles of lakes, 2428 sq miles of estuaries and 1246 unique watersheds. In addition Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Maryland share the Chesapeake Bay, once one of the most productive ecosystems in the world. These water resources used to provide Virginia with premier recreation, fishing, and tourism opportunities.

Conservation issues :

A substantial portion of the states waterways are impaired (polluted – listed on the federal Clean Water Acts ‘dirty waters’ list) including nearly 9000 miles of river ways (50% of those tested), 109, 000 acres of lakes (>90%), and 2216 sq miles of estuary (>95%). 41% of watersheds have 3 or more impaired (polluted) segments. The entire Chesapeake Bay is on the federal dirty waters list due primarily to problems caused by nitrogen pollution. The state faces a 2010 deadline for making progress on the health of the Chesapeake Bay or risks federal intervention, a deadline which has not received attention until last years budget which began to provide some of the necessary $750 million dollars. In the meantime the Bay’s ability to support life has declined dramatically – the Bay has huge oxygen-deprived ‘dead’ zones each summer which extend into rivers, and fish and shellfish catches have declined dramatically. The States Water Cleanup plan can be found here : http://www.snr.state.va.us/Initiatives/WaterCleanupPlan/

Actions:

The Sierra Club supports the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s recommendations for funding of at least $150 million per year for the next 15 years to clean Virginia’s waterways and restore the state’s recreational, tourism, seafood and drinking water resources.

The Sierra Club supports cleanup of point sources of nitrogen such as sewage treatment plants, public education to reduce the overuse of lawn fertilizers and dumping of pollutants into storm drains, creation/repair of riparian buffers along streams and the reduction of agricultural runoff. Sewage Treatment plant upgrades and cost-share money for farmers for conservation measures will allow Virginia to achieve 80% nitrogen reductions and 70% phosphorus reductions need to meet the 2010 Bay goals. The Club supports active monitoring of the States water Cleanup plan.

Active Campaigns: The Sierra Club has no active campaigns for specific waterway cleanup at this time.