THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, April 13, 1996 TAG: 9604130329
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SCOTT HARPER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 94 lines
Despite a continued rise in population and development, which usually spurs pollution, 95 percent of the Virginia waterways surveyed since 1994 meet state cleanliness standards, according to a study released Friday.
``When you consider that nationally, between 30 and 40 percent of waterways are impaired, we feel this is a very, very positive report,'' said Ron Gregory, who oversees water monitoring for the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.
That's the good news.
The bad news is that 5 percent of Virginia's waterways - or some 1,436 miles of rivers and streams - are unsafe for fishing or swimming, with runoff from farms and urban centers the prime culprit, the two-year study found.
While most of the trouble is in the western part of the state, where farming is more widespread, Hampton Roads has its share of unhealthy waters, including much of the Elizabeth River, parts of the Lafayette and Nansemond rivers and several narrow streams that feed the Chesapeake Bay on the Eastern Shore, the study concluded.
The results are similar to those recorded in the last round of sampling, from 1992 to 1994. That survey, while smaller in scope, also found that 5 percent of state waters were befouled.
The latest study, costing an estimated $8 million, is mandated by the federal government under the Clean Water Act, the law that defines what constitutes ``safe water quality'' nationally.
The results also illustrate how water pollution has changed since Congress passed the law in 1972.
Two decades ago, discharges from sewage plants, factories and industry were mostly to blame for contaminated waterways. Now, with many of these easy-to-see polluters under control, the major contributors are less obvious sources such as manure from farm fields, motor oil and chemicals from parking lots, and fertilizers washing off lawns and gardens, officials said.
Indeed, the study found that 83 percent of failing state waters can be attributed to farm and urban runoff, which carries fecal bacteria, pesticides and nutrient pollution.
These contaminants are technically called ``non-point source pollution'' because it's difficult to pinpoint where the problems originated.
Meanwhile, so-called ``point source pollution,'' those contaminants dumped from industrial emission pipes and sewage outfalls, was tied to less than 28 miles of unsanitary state waterways, according to the study.
With the study complete, the state must now suggest remedies for each trouble spot. That could likely mean tougher pollution permit limits on some industries and sewage plants, officials said, but the focus will be on better control of runoff.
Virginia has nine major river basins with an estimated 49,220 miles of freshwater streams and 2,500 square miles of part-fresh, part-saltwater estuaries.
The study assessed more than half of these waters, or about 29,243 miles of rivers, lakes and streams, by taking samples from 1,110 monitoring stations throughout the state, Gregory said. It costs about $4,000 a year to maintain a station, he added.
The survey represents the best and most comprehensive scientific effort at estimating water conditions since Virginia first started sampling from creeks and streams from the Blue Ridge to Tidewater in 1975.
Still, the definition of ``impaired waters'' is a lowest common denominator for what passes as a troubled ecosystem. For example, the Pagan River in Isle of Wight County, much of which has been closed to shellfish harvesting since 1970 because of high levels of bacteria, is not considered impaired.
Charles Martin, a state environmental engineer, explained that the Pagan escaped such a label because shellfish still could be taken from branches of the Pagan at various times of the two-year study period.
The Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River, for example, a highly industrial waterway with some of the highest levels of toxic pollution on the East Coast, is deemed impaired because no shellfish can be taken from it.
The study was roundly criticized last year, when early sampling results were presented in such a way that hardly anyone could understand them. Environmentalists charged that Virginia might be trying to fudge its findings under a cloud of jargon and undecipherable charts.
Such criticism caused the state to miss an April 1 deadline for completing its final study and submitting it to the Environmental Protection Agency, as officials changed their format to one that can be more easily read by laymen, Martin said. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
Research by Scott Harper, graphic by Robert D. Voros/The
Virginian-Pilot
Impaired waters of Hampton Roads
For complete copy, see microfilm
KEYWORDS: STUDY SURVEY WATER POLLUTION VIRGINIA HAMPTON ROADS by CNB