Water

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Laws

State Water Control Law authorizes DEQ to implement a variety of laws and regulations pertaining to water quality and water supply to improve and protect Virginia's streams, rivers, bays, wetlands and ground water for aquatic life, human health and other beneficial water use.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the federal Clean Water Act enables states to implement certain EPA responsibilities. EPA has authorized Virginia to issue National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits under the Virginia Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit (VPDES) Program. These permits carry the weight of federal and state laws and regulations, and are enforceable under state and federal authority.

Regulations

The State Water Control Board promulgates Virginia's water regulations, including permits, permit fees, ground water management areas, ground water withdrawals and petroleum storage tanks. A report on specific regulations can be obtained from the following link to the Legislative Information System database, for each of the pertinent chapters listed in the Virginia Administrative Code. Summaries to federal requirements can be found at EPA water regulations.

Guidance

Guidance documents are available throughout this website and at Virginia Town Hall.

Compliance

The water compliance programs ensure that activities regulated by DEQ under a permit are in compliance with water protection requirements. Compliance activities include inspecting permitted facilities and reviewing required reports to ensure the owner is in compliance with permit conditions to protect water resources. Though minor corrective actions can be taken outside of formal enforcement, sometimes compliance activities result in formal enforcement actions to ensure that corrective actions are taken.

Stormwater and VPDES

The Virginia Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (VPDES) permitting program regulates point source pollution from a wide variety of sources, including:

All point sources with discharges to surface waters
Municipal separate storm sewer systems (MS4)
Stormwater from construction activities
Stormwater from industrial activities

All VPDES general are permits are available here.

VPDES permits for surface coal mines are issued by the Virginia Department of Energy.

Water Quantity and Supply

Groundwater Withdrawal

Under the Ground Water Management Act of 1992 and the Groundwater Withdrawal Regulations, Virginia manages groundwater through a program regulating the withdrawals of groundwater in certain designed areas called Groundwater Management Areas (GWMA).

Surface Water Withdrawal

Surface water withdrawals from state waters and related permanent structures require permits authorized under the Virginia Water Protection (VWP) Permit Program Regulations as directed by Article 2.2 of the State Water Control Law.

Wetlands and Streams

Authority to protect wetlands and streams and administer Virginia Water Protection (VWP) permit regulations is given by §62.1-44.15:20 of the Code of Virginia. The over-arching regulation for the VWP permit program is found in 9VAC25-210.

Certain activities that are considered to have minimal impacts to human health and the environment may be covered under one of these VWP general permit regulations:

VWP General Permit WP1 for Impacts Less than One-Half of Acre, 9VAC 25-660
VWP General Permit WP2 for Facilities and Activities of Utility and Public Service Companies Regulated by the Federal Energy Commission or the State Corporation Commission and Other Utility Line Activities, 9VAC 25-670
VWP General Permit WP3 for Linear Transportation Projects, 9VAC 25-680
VWP General Permit WP4 for Impacts from Development and Certain Mining Activities, 9VAC 25-690

For more information on how regulations are developed, please visit DEQ's Regulatory Guide that describes the Administrative Process Act (APA). New regulations or revisions to existing regulations are posted in the Virginia Register. Public meetings, public notices, and regulatory actions may also be posted on the Virginia Town Hall. Some regulatory actions, such as the development and revision of general permit regulations are exempt from certain steps in the APA.

Additional State and Federal Regulations

In 2000, the General Assembly removed the dependence of the state nontidal wetlands program on the issuance of a federal permit, thus authorizing the Virginia Water Protection (VWP) Permit Program to regulate activities in wetlands such as certain types of excavation in wetlands and fill in isolated wetlands (which may not be under Federal jurisdiction).

The U.S Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) issues Nationwide Permits (NWPs) and Regional Permits (RPs) to authorize certain activities that require Department of the Army permits under Section 404 of the clean Water Act and/or Section 10 of the River and Harbor Act of 1899. Section 404(e) of the Clean Water Act states that NWPs and other general permits may only authorize activities that "will cause only minimal adverse environmental effects when performed separately, and will have only minimal cumulative adverse effects on the environment". NWPs and RPs can be issued for a maximum five-year period, and must be renewed before they expire.

As the certifying authority, DEQ provides a Section 401 Water Quality Certification (WQC) decision for USACE Nationwide permits, Regional permits and SPGPs. DEQ can also provide a WQC decision by issuing a VWP permit (§ 62.1-44.15:20.D).

2021/2022 Nationwide Permits
DEQ’s Final Section 401 WQC for 2021 and 2022 Nationwide Permits (December 21, 2020)
USACE Public Notice, 2021 NWPs, Conditions
USACE Public Notice, 2022 NWPs, Conditions
Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 401 Certification Compliance worksheet (v. April 1, 2022)

Other DEQ WQC of USACE nationwide and regional permits:

DEQ's Final 401 Certification Letter for 2018 Regional Permits (August 22, 2018)
DEQ's Final 401 Certification Letter for Nationwide Permits (April 2017) revised 4-28-17
DEQ's Final 401 Certification Letter for Regional Permit 17-RP-20 (February 2017)
DEQ's Final 401 Certification Letter for Regional Permit 16-RP-05 (January 20, 2017)

The enactment of the Tidal Wetlands Act of 1972 gave the Virginia Marine Resources Commission the responsibility for issuing tidal wetlands permits under Chapters 12 and 13 of Title 28.2 of the Code of Virginia.

EPA’s Proposed Rulemaking

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed rulemaking regarding the definition of Waters of the U.S. (or WOTUS)’ which may affect federal permitting under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act, such as permits issued through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ permit program.

In Virginia, this proposed federal rulemaking will not replace or supersede the authority given to DEQ under the Code of Virginia and the Virginia State Water Control Law for permitting impacts to state waters (see Title 62.1).

Reports

Virginia DEQ

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