Virginia Governor Kaine Announces $3.5 Million in Water Quality Improvement Grants

Grants help fund 38 projects to prevent run-off pollution

October 25, 2007 -- RICHMOND – Virginia Governor Timothy M. Kaine today announced an award of $3.5 million in 2007 Water Quality Improvement Fund (WQIF) grants to fund 38 projects statewide that reduce nonpoint source, or runoff, pollution. The grants are administered by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR).

Recipients, which include local governments, academic institutions and nonprofit organizations across Virginia, will match the $3.5 million in state funds with nearly $5 million. According to estimates submitted by grant recipients, the funded projects will keep a combined 135,000 pounds of nitrogen, 8,500 pounds of phosphorus and 7,950 tons of sediment out of Virginia’s waters, including the Chesapeake Bay.

“These grants help advance projects that will provide tangible improvements to our water quality,” said Governor Kaine. “Many of these grants serve as a catalyst to bring together partners to tackle tough water quality problems. All of the grants help us reduce runoff from developed lands, the fastest-growing source of water impairment in the Commonwealth.”

The selected projects address nonpoint source pollution from septic systems, home lawns, city streets, commercial sites and mines. Carried into streams and rivers by rainwater runoff, nonpoint source pollution is a major threat to water quality, and the primary cause of algae blooms that impair tidal rivers and the Chesapeake Bay.

“These projects address a range of nonpoint sources of pollution across the state,” said DCR Director Joseph H. Maroon. “They will help improve Virginia’s rivers, streams and the Chesapeake Bay and complement efforts aimed at agricultural runoff.”

DCR administers the nonpoint source portion of the WQIF, and is working to finalize contracts with the grantees.

Major projects include:

* 123 homeowners will be provided funds to share in the cost of repairing or replacing failing septic systems in 12 stream segments that currently fail state water quality standards due to excess fecal coliform.
* More than 5.5 miles of streams in 16 locations will be restored to reduce erosion. More than four miles of riparian buffers will be established to help filter pollutants running off of adjacent lands.
* Reclamation of 15 acres of abandoned coal or orphaned mineral mining sites will benefit three stream segments currently listed on the federal “impaired waters list.” The three are Contrary Creek in Louisa County, Dumps Creek in Russell County, and North Fork of the Powell River in Lee County. Five acres of wetlands will be created to reduce nitrogen impacts from a mining operation on the Chickahominy River in Charles City County.
* Madison and Southampton Counties are establishing stormwater management programs and ordinances encouraging low impact development, 37 low impact development demonstration sites and 10 retrofits to stormwater best management practices are being funded. Programs funded to educate residential homeowners will distribute more than 500 rain barrels.

This is the second consecutive year DCR has offered WQIF grants. Other WQIF funds are used to improve and upgrade wastewater treatment plants and to provide incentives for the state’s farmers to install and use conservation best management practices.

Highlighted projects by region: (Grant Award/Match)

For details on specific projects, contact Gary Waugh at DCR at (804) 786-5045.
NORTHERN VIRGINIA AND FREDERICKSBURG REGION

* City of Falls Church: Impervious surface demonstration project ($93,00/$114,640)
* City of Manassas: Winters Branch stormwater management enhancement and stream restoration ($150,350/$155,350)
* Culpeper Soil and Water Conservation District: Stream channel restoration in upper Rappahannock River basin, Madison County ($73,600/$73,600)
* Fairfax County Park Authority: Turkeycock Run stream restoration and Huntley Meadows wetland restoration ($90,000/$410,000)
* Lands & Waters, Inc.: Fairfax Stormwater Management Plan ($30,000/$70,225)
* Madison County: Stormwater management project ($26,000/$26,000)
* Mount Zion Baptist Church: The Vision low impact development project, Spotsylvania County ($112,680/$112,680)
* Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District: Tamarack Stables manure composting facility, Fairfax County ($25,254/$27,008)
* Prince William Soil and Water Conservation District: Chesapeake Bay-Friendly Horse Farm project, Prince William County ($121,399/$133,773)

SHENANDOAH VALLEY REGION

* Augusta County: Low Impact Development retrofit ($40,000/$47,601)
* City of Waynesboro: Regional water quality initiative ($34,064/$42,583)
* Harrisonburg Parks and Recreation: Blacks Run stream restoration ($29,100/$44,500)
* Headwaters Soil and Water Conservation District: Residential septic management, Augusta County ($148,395/$149,546)
* Rappahannock County: Expanded septic system cost share program ($122,960/$170,282)

CENTRAL, SOUTHSIDE AND SOUTHERN VIRGINIA REGION

* Cabell Brand Center: Rainwater harvesting to abate runoff, Charlottesville, Richmond ($109,372/$109,372)
* Caroline County: Dawn septic replacement project and septic pump-out program ($200,000/$200,000)
* City of Danville: Retrofit impervious surfaces with bioretention ($28,656/$28,724)
* Dan River Basin Association: Dan River Watershed riparian buffer enhancement ($32,875/$32,875)
* Piedmont Soil and Water Conservation District: Nottoway County homeowner septic education and repair program ($42,150/$44,212)
* Southside Virginia Family YMCA: Better site designing, building strong communities, Prince Edward County ($144,741/$204,859)
* Thomas Jefferson Soil and Water Conservation District: Gold Mine Creek cleanup, Louisa County ($38,087/$41,834)
* Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy: Cofer Prospect: Acid mine drainage reclamation ($100,000/$100,000)

HAMPTON ROADS AND TIDEWATER REGION

* City of Virginia Beach: Water quality coordination and enhancement ($133,932/$133,932)
* Christopher Newport University: Tomahund created wetland treatment project, Charles City County ($68,848/$68,848)
* City of Norfolk: Wetland restoration ($165,000/$200,000)
* Mathews County: Countywide notification and tracking of septic pump-out program ($25,000/$25,000)
* Middle Peninsula Planning District Commission: Regional onsite wastewater treatment and disposal ($80,000/$80,000)
* Southampton County: Stormwater management and LID demonstration ($135,000/$529,798)

ROANOKE REGION

* City of Roanoke: Water quality enhancements ($83,500/$99,441)
* FishAmerica Foundation: Power Dam removal, Franklin County ($200,000/$220,740)
* Roanoke County: Mudlick Creek urban stream restoration at Garst Mill Park ($110,000/$144,782)
* Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries: Southern Rivers restoration project, Upper Roanoke River Basin ($200,000/$200,000)
* Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University: Stroubles Creek stream restoration, Town of Blacksburg ($167,200/$167,200)

SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA

* Holston River Soil and Water Conservation District: Clear Creek Golf Course stabilization project and pet waste disposal systems, Washington County, Bristol ($55,347/$78,221)
* New River-Highlands RC&D: New River streambank restoration, Grayson, Wythe, Montgomery, and Pulaski counties ($96,150/$97,261)
* Upper Tennessee River Roundtable: Upper Powell stormwater management and abandoned mine restoration, Wise County, Lee County ($97,340/$97,348)
* Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries: Southern Rivers restoration project, Upper Tennessee River Basin ($200,000/$200,000)
* Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy: Hurricane Fork Gob Piles, Russell County ($140,000/$140,000)

For a full list of recipients and more information on each project, visit: www.dcr.virginia.gov/soil_&_water/wqia.shtml.

Source: Virginia Governor

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