Chief Patron: Watkins
Funding for James River Chlorophyll Study (language only)

Item 357 #1s

Language
Page 310, after line 15, insert:
“3.  Out of the amounts of this appropriation, the Department of Environmental Quality shall use an amount not to exceed $3,000,000 from the Water Quality Improvement Fund to conduct the James River chlorophyll study pursuant to the approved Virginia Chesapeake Bay TMDL Phase I Watershed Implementation Plan.  This amount shall be used solely for contractual support for (a) water quality monitoring and analysis in an amount not to exceed $1,000,000 and (b) computer modeling in an amount not to exceed $2,000,000.  No portion of this funding may be used for administrative costs of the Department.”

Explanation
(The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency asserts in its final Chesapeake Bay TMDL that “absent significant reductions from other pollution sources [beyond those specified in the Virginia Watershed Implementation Plan], it is estimated that every significant municipal and industrial wastewater treatment facility in the river basin (39 facilities) would have to install nutrient removal technologies at or below the limit of technology levels.” This would require estimated additional expenditures of between $0.5 billion and $1.0 billion to meet the James River’s unique Site-Specific Numeric Chlorophyll-a Criteria, according to the Virginia Watershed Implementation Plan. In light of new water quality data, additional scientific research, and the opportunity to improve the existing computer modeling, the Virginia Watershed Implementation Plan provides for a technical study designed to ensure the best science and regulatory approaches are used prior to determining whether to impose such additional expenditures. This amendment provides the resources to conduct this study and may result in substantial savings to the Water Quality Improvement Fund.)