by admin on January 23, 2012
The Rivanna River Basin Commission and local partners have received a grant of up to $267,000 to be used over the next two and half years to address the bacterial contamination of the Moores Creek watershed that drains portions of Albemarle County and the City of Charlottesville. Project partners receiving funding include the Thomas Jefferson Soil and Water Conservation District (TJSWCD), Thomas Jefferson Planning District (TJPDC), and StreamWatch.
This funding from the Department of Conservation and Recreation will be used specifically to address the bacterial pollution coming from livestock operations, failing or non-existent septic systems, and pet waste. Over 60% of the funding will be made available as “cost-share” to help homeowners in the watershed address the sources of pollution on privately-owned lands. Most of the funding is federal EPA dollars, but a portion is from Virginia state funds.
During the grant-funded project, TJSWCD will reach out to homeowners in the watershed to encourage “best management practices,” or BMPs, ranging from exclusion fencing for livestock from to septic system pump-out and repairs. Funding will also be available to help homeowners connect to existing public sewer. Home composters specially designed for pet-waste will be made available for homeowners to encourage pet-waste collection that reduces polluted run-off to area streams due to cats and dogs.
Bacteria pollution in Moores Creek is from fecal coliform, found in the intestines of all warm-blooded animals, including dogs, cats, cattle, humans, and some wildlife. A 2003 plan? outlined many corrective measures including stormwater trunk repair and replacement and prevention of illicit discharges, and over 40% of these corrective measures have been completed or are planned soon. This project brings resources to the community to help with pollution reduction from homeowners and citizens.
The Moores Creek watershed covers 35 square miles of Albemarle County and the City of Charlottesville. The creek forms much of the southern boundary of Charlottesville, draining the southern part of the city and parts of Albemarle County to the south and west of the city. For a map of the Moores Creek watershed, see MooresCreekMap-AIR1
by admin on April 21, 2011
The Rivanna River Basin Commission reports that about 35% of Rivanna streams meet the criteria of “healthy waters,” based on an assessment tool developed by Virginia Commonwealth University developed specifically to identify healthy waters in the Commonwealth of Virginia. While this is a greater percentage than many areas in Virginia, the study highlights the importance of protecting existing healthy waters before they become degraded.
Of the 54 streams assessed in the Rivanna basin, 16 streams (29%) and 4 streams (7%) were “exceptional” based Virginia Commonwealth University’s INSTAR assessment tool developed for Virginia’s Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR).
Thirty-six of the streams assessed in this study had occurrences of ecologically or economically important aquatic living resources, including brook trout, American eel, and smallmouth bass.
RRBC undertook this project because of the understanding that conservation and protection of healthy waters and their watersheds is the most cost effective means of protecting water quality and has the most benefit for the natural world because these efforts focus on maintaining the ecological integrity of natural systems.
RRBC is continuing to work to develop tools for integrating healthy waters into land use planning and decision-making in accordance with the spirit of and provisions for anti-degradation in the Clean Water Act.
More details on the project and the full report are available online at http://www.rivannariverbasin.org/dcr-healthy-waters.php.
Project funding for the Rivanna Healthy Waters Pilot Project came from USEPA through a grant from Virginia DCR.
VCU Scientists Collect Fish Sample in a Rivanna Tributary (summer 2010)
by admin on April 14, 2011
To provide expertise and recommendations to the Commonwealth’s team developing the Phase II Watershed Implementation Plan for the Bay TMDL, Virginia’s Secretary of Natural Resources, Doug Domenech, is appointing a stakeholder advisory group. Leslie Middleton, Executive Director of the Rivanna River Basin Commission, has been named to this group, which meets for the first time on April 26, 2011.
Ms. Middleton, who also served on the Phase I Chesapeake Bay TMDL Stakeholder Advisory Committee, will join members of local governments, representatives of the Virginia PDCs, and others to advise Virginia agencies as they detail the Bay TMDL pollution reduction goals from the major tributary level (such as the James) to the scale of local governments.
RRBC will continue to work with its partners, Thomas Jefferson PDC, Culpeper and Thomas Jefferson SWCDs, and the Rivanna local governments, during 2011 as information from localities is identified and utilized by the state to craft the Phase II Watershed Implementation Plan. The draft of this plan is due to EPA in November 2011.
by admin on March 16, 2011
On March 15, 2011, RRBC gave a presentation about the Piedmont Regional Pilot Project to the Middle James Roundtable, a collaborative effort that brings together stakeholders to improve water quality through local and regional community-based watershed projects.
Ms. Joan Salvati, Director of DCR’s Division of Chesapeake Bay Local Assistance , and DCR’s team leader in development of the Phase II Watershed Implementation Plans (WIPs), also spoke about Phase II WIPs. She reported that DCR is close to finalizing guidance for local governments about Phase II, which will identify the accounting, documentation, and planning that will take place during 2011. She distinguished between the “allocations” that are a regulatory requirement that the Commonwealth of Virginia is responsible for — and the target reductions of nutrients and sediment that will be asked of localities to help meet the allocations.
The Rivanna flows muddy after a rain storm
by admin on March 10, 2011
The RRBC is developing the Rivanna Watershed Action Plan to help fulfill its mission of “promoting communication, coordination, and education, and by suggesting appropriate solutions to identified problems” in the Rivanna.
A Rivanna headwater stream
An important component of the Rivanna Watershed Action Plan will be on preserving the healthy waters that we are fortunate to have in our region.
Much has changed since TJPDC published the 1998 State of the Basin Report, so the RRBC is updating the information and will be working with partners to develop a comprehensive watershed plan over the next two years.
The watershed planning process will be coordinated with the pollution prevention measures that will be developed by Phase II Watershed Implementation Plans for the Chesapeake Bay TMDL.
