The water quality programs at DEQ aim to identify, restore, and ultimately protect polluted waters. Throughout the past few decades, DEQ and partners have worked to restore many of the state’s waters. In cases where polluted waters have been restored or exhibit great improvements in water quality as a result of cleanup actions, we call those success stories. Generally, waters are degraded over long periods of time and therefore the restoration of those polluted waters takes both time and properly implemented pollution controls. Given the complex and often large scale nature of polluted waters, the success stories highlighted here were successful because of extensive collaboration between DEQ and other stakeholders, such as other agencies, landowners and permit holders.

In the sections below, you will find examples of DEQ’s most recent success stories. The first section covers success stories from Virginia’s Nonpoint Source (NPS) Program, whereas the second section covers a broader group of success stories with more varied pollution sources, approaches, and partnerships.

If you are aware of any water quality success stories that need highlighting, please contact DEQ.