bottled vs.tap: - Virginia Water Environment Association

Government Affairs Session atWaterJAM 2012By Public and Government Communications CommitteeThe Public and Government CommunicationsCommittee hostedrepresentatives from the VirginiaDepartment of Conservation andRecreation (DCR) and the Virginia Departmentof Environmental Quality (DEQ) duringthe Government Affairs Session at Water-JAM 2012. DCR representatives includedJames E. Davis-Martin, Chesapeake BayWIP II Project Manager, and Virginia S.Snead, Regulatory Programs Manager. DEQrepresentatives included Frederick K. Cunningham,Director of the Office of VPDESPermits, Russell W. Baxter, ChesapeakeBay Coordinator, and Arthur J. Butt, TMDLCoordinator. The representatives providedupdates on current and upcoming regulationsand policies.The first presentation by James E.Davis-Martin included a summary of theChesapeake Bay program’s history, fromthe 1980 Bay Commission agreementsto the current Bay TMDL and the Phase Iand II WIP requirements. Mr. Davis-Martinprovided a summary of Virginia’s progressin reducing nitrogen and phosphorus loads.He noted that Virginia’s current load allocationsunder the TMDL were slightly lowerthan the Tributary Strategies developed byVirginia in 2005.Per Mr. Davis-Martin, the Phase I WIPwas submitted to and accepted by EPAin the winter of 2010. It included a broadexpansion of the existing nutrient creditexchange plan, an additional study of thecurrent chlorophyll standard in the JamesRiver basin, and proposed enhancementsto the Virginia Stormwater ManagementProgram. He stated that the focus of thePhase II WIP is on local data and managementof nutrients (including BMPs), land useand land cover. He went on to state that thePhase II WIP includes additional details onthe expanded use of nutrient credits.The James River Chlorophyll-a studyand the updates to the MS4/StormwaterPrograms were also introduced in Mr. Davis-Martin’s presentation. These programs werecovered in more detail by other speakers, asdiscussed below.The next speaker, Virginia S. Snead,discussed the current status of the stormwaterprogram in Virginia. Before Ms. Sneadcould begin her presentation, there werequestions from the audience regardingEPA’s announced intention to withhold grantfunds as the result of a perception by EPAthat Virginia was not adequately implementingurban stormwater controls that arerequired under the Bay TMDL. Ms. Snead24 The Conduit – Fall 2012