ACT NOW to Support Clean Streams and Rivers
Shenandoah Valley residents have an opportunity now to voice strong support for better management of run-off and water pollution from land development.
After more than three years of work, Virginia officials have finally released new draft land use regulations for local governments to control run-off and water pollution from land development. These new stormwater management regulations ensure that new development does not degrade our local streams and drinking water.
However, the state’s homebuilder lobby is now proposing a substitute program that would gut the new stormwater regulations and shift the cost to our farmers and local governments.
Click here to email a comment directly to DCR
Urge DCR to:
·Protect local streams and rivers by adopting the proposed stormwater program
·Reject the homebuilders’ alternative proposal, which shifts the burden to farmers and local governments
·Create incentives in the stormwater program for new development to occur in towns and cities instead of converting farmland and forestland.
Read Wendy Hamilton's comments from the public meeting hosted by DCR in Manassas.
Read the Commentary printed in the Winchester Star on July 11 written by Wendy Hamilton, Jeff Kelble and Ann Jennings.
For More Information: Key Provisions of Draft Regulations
• The DCR website" See the “Stormwater Parts 1,2,3 and 13 at: http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/lawregs.shtml
• Virginia Regulatory TownHall (www.townhall.virginia.gov)
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Here are few reasons to support the proposed new program:
Shenandoah Valley residents care about clean water. The flash of hot, dirty water that comes off of parking lots, roads, and buildings after a rainstorm isn’t just bad for fish. Stormwater run-off also harms drinking water sources, recreation and tourism, and even property values. The state’s new stormwater program will protect our rivers and streams, conserve healthy fisheries and help prevent damaging floods in our local communities.
New development should not degrade our water quality. Progress is being made in the Shenandoah Valley to reduce water pollution from agricultural activities and wastewater treatment facilities. However, these reductions have been offset by the huge increases in pollution from new development over the past 10 years. The proposed stormwater regs would require developers to join the agricultural community, industry and local governments in taking steps to reduce pollution in streams and rivers.
The proposed stormwater program will be fair, flexible, and effective. The new regulations were developed over a 3-year process that involved technical experts (including engineers and economists) and stakeholders (including homebuilders, environmental groups, and localities), and over 50 public meetings to ensure that the program will be workable on the ground. Local governments will receive fees from developers to implement stormwater programs along with their current erosion and sediment control programs, creating streamlined planning to ensure new development does not harm our water quality.
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