Authority: Title 10.1, Chapters 11, 14 and 15, Title 44, Chapter 3.5, Title 62.1, Chapter 3.1, 22, 24, and 25, Code of Virginia.

A. The June 30, 1998 and June 30, 1999 unexpended balances for Construction Assistance are hereby reappropriated.

B. The Department of Environmental Quality, as part of its regular water testing program, shall provide $19,500 the first year and $10,000 the second year from the general fund to the Smith Mountain Lake Volunteer Water Quality Monitoring Project. The funds will be used to take samples from the lake to test water quality and chemical content.

C. The Department of Environmental Quality, as part of its regular water testing program, shall provide $25,000 the first year and $25,000 the second year from the general fund to the Virginia Division of the Izaak Walton League of America to train and assist in maintaining a statewide program of volunteer citizen water quality monitors.

D.1. Out of the amounts for Environmental Technical and Financial Assistance, $37,100,000 the first year from the general fund shall be deposited to the Virginia Water Quality Improvement Fund established under the Virginia Water Quality Improvement Act of 1997, Title 10.1, Chapter 21.1, Code of Virginia. Of this amount, $23,230,000 is estimated as the fiscal year 1999 allocation for point source projects and $13,870,000 is estimated as the allocation for fiscal year 2000.

2. Beginning on January 1, 2000, the Director of the Department of Environmental Quality is authorized to make a grant from the Fund, not to exceed $3,350,000, for operational improvements at the Blue Plains Wastewater Treatment Facility, provided that the nutrient reductions thereby achieved are credited to the Commonwealth of Virginia by the Chesapeake Bay Program.

3. Subject to the Governor's approval, the Director of the Department of Environmental Quality shall assist the Virginia Economic Development Partnership in issuing a loan from the Governor's Development Opportunity Fund, not to exceed $1,750,000 or 25 percent of the construction costs, whichever is less, in fiscal year 1999 for the construction of a privatized wastewater reclamation and reuse system that serves northern Rockingham County and that converts existing point source discharges to the North Fork of the Shenandoah River to a land application system. These conditions must be met before a loan can be made: (i) a local government, local industrial development authority, or political subdivision must sponsor the project; (ii) the applicant must obtain all appropriate permits as required under state and federal water control laws; (iii) the terms and use of the loan shall be in accordance with the policies and procedures set out in Item 547 E. of this Act and those promulgated under §2.1-51.6:5 of the Code of Virginia; and (iv) this reclamation and reuse system shall demonstrate wastewater treatment technology that eliminates the discharge of wastewater and nutrients to rivers and streams and recycles nutrients and reclaimed water for beneficial uses, while eliminating the generation of odors and organic sludge from the treatment process.

4. Funds deposited in the Virginia Water Quality Improvement Fund in excess of the amounts specified in subparagraph 1 above shall be used by the Department of Environmental Quality to implement adopted strategies for nutrient reduction in the James, York, and Rappahannock Rivers and the eastern and western coastal basins. In the event that final strategies have not been adopted in accordance with statutory deadlines, projects to reduce nutrients in these rivers and basins shall be eligible to receive grants from the Virginia Water Quality Improvement Fund.

5. The Director of the Department of Environmental Quality is authorized to make a grant from the Virginia Water Quality Improvement Fund, not to exceed $6,000,000, for the design and construction of biological nutrient removal or other nutrient removal facilities for private sewage treatment plants serving residential areas in the Potomac-Shenandoah River Basin which exceed 0.5 MGD, provided the nutrient reductions achieved contribute to the 40 percent nutrient reduction goal of the Chesapeake Bay Program.

E. Out of the amounts for Environmental Technical and Financial Assistance, $7,000,000 the first year from the general fund shall be deposited to the Combined Sewer Overflow Matching Fund pursuant to Title 62.1, § 241.12, Code of Virginia. From this Fund, the City of Richmond shall receive $3,500,000 in the first year, and the City of Lynchburg shall receive $3,500,000 in the first year.

F. The Department of Environmental Quality, as part of its regular water testing program, shall provide $6,000 the first year from the general fund to the Friends of Claytor Lake Water Quality Monitoring Project. The funds will be used to take samples from the lake to test water quality and chemical content.

G. The Department of Environmental Quality, as part of its regular water testing program, shall provide $10,000 the first year from the general fund to the Friends of the Shenandoah Water Quality Monitoring Project. The funds will be used to take samples from the river to test water quality and chemical content.

H. The amounts for Environmental Technical and Financial Assistance include $200,000 each year from the general fund as the state share of a feasibility investigation by the United States Army Corps of Engineers on sediment remediation and wetlands restoration in the Elizabeth River.

I. The Department of Environmental Quality, in consultation with the Department of Conservation and Recreation, shall examine the feasibility of establishing a competitive grant program to assist volunteer water quality monitoring efforts. The study shall review the history and extent of volunteer water quality monitoring efforts in the Commonwealth, whether such efforts complement state water quality programs, the amount of funding from all sources currently available for volunteer water quality monitoring, the appropriateness of a state funding program, and the proper organizational placement for any such program. The Department shall report its findings and recommendations to the Chairmen of the House Committees on Appropriations and Conservation and Natural Resources, and the Senate Committees on Finance and Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources, by October 15, 1998.