Monday, June 21, 2010

Virginia Water Radio 22: Week of June 21, 2010

Welcome to Virginia Water Radio (Episode 22) for the week of June 21, 2010. This week's show is hosted by Alan Raflo, research associate at the Virginia Water Resources Research Center, located at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. Our show presents news and notices that relate to Virginia’s waters, from the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean.  NOTICE: The show will be on a break during the week of June 28. Have a Happy Independence Day, and please join us again during the week of July 5.  

Audio archived 3-25-13.  Please contact Virginia Water Radio to request this audio. 

NEWS
  • On June 8, Virginia, nine other Atlantic coastal states, and the U.S. Department of the Interior signed an agreement establishing the Atlantic Offshore Wind Energy Consortium. According to Interior Department information, the agreement is intended “to promote the efficient, orderly, and responsible development of wind resources on the Outer Continental Shelf.” The agreement sets objectives on permitting and regulation, scientific data, and infrastructure; the consortium is to develop an action plan for achieving the objectives. In a related action, the Interior Department announced that it will locate a regional renewable-energy office in Virginia to facilitate the Atlantic states’ efforts to develop wind, solar, and other renewable energy sources along the East Coast.  News sources: Virginia Joins Atlantic Offshore Wind Energy Consortium, Virginia Governor’s Office News Release, 6/8/10 (a link to the agreement document is available at this online news release); and Salazar Signs Agreement with 10 East Coast Governors to Establish Atlantic Offshore Wind Energy Consortium, U.S. Department of the Interior News Release, 6/8/10.
  • On June 15, about 100 people attended a contentious meeting by the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors on whether the county will adopt a proposed Chesapeake Bay Protection Ordinance. The county ordinance would implement the full stream- and wetland-protection measures of Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act. The Bay Act, passed in 1988, requires 84 Virginia Tidewater localities to implement its provisions, but implementation is voluntary in Bay watershed localities NOT located in the Tidewater region. Loudoun would be the first locality to implement the full protection measures of the Act voluntarily. Opponents have questioned whether the ordinance is necessary and asserted that it will infringe on property rights. Supporters of the ordinance, citing county documents indicating that 78 percent of Loudoun’s streams are “stressed,” have asserted that the ordinance is needed to protect the county’s waterways.  News sources: Tempers flare over proposed Chesapeake Bay Protection Ordinance, Loudoun Times-Mirror, 6/15/10; and Loudoun to keep debating Chesapeake water quality measure, Washington Post, 5/26/10. More information on the Virginia Chesapeake Bay Act is available from the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation’s Chesapeake Bay Local Assistance Web page, at www.dcr.virginia.gov/chesapeake_bay_local_assistance/theact.shtml
  • In mid-June, citizens on Virginia’s Eastern Shore reviewed the first draft of a water-supply plan being produced for the two shore counties of Accomack and Northampton. The plan is being developed under the state mandate for long-term plans to be submitted by all Virginia localities no later than 2011. The plan focuses on groundwater because groundwater supplies all public water on the Shore. Some of the key issues facing the area are the capacity of the shallow, water-table aquifer compared to the deeper Yorktown aquifer; the impact of commercial development on groundwater recharge areas; the potential for groundwater pumping to cause intrusion of salt water into the Yorktown aquifer; and groundwater use by the area’s two poultry-processing plants.  News source: State-mandated groundwater supply draft plan is complete, Eastern Shore News, 6/15/10. More information on Virginia’s statewide water-supply planning process is available from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality at http://www.deq.virginia.gov/watersupplyplanning/homepage.html
  • And in our last news item: By early June, almost 280,000 American Eels had completed passage up two new fish ladders that were installed in Spring 2010 at Dominion Virginia Power’s Roanoke Rapids hydroelectric dam on the Roanoke River just below the Virginia-North Carolina border. Young eels produced from breeding of adults in the Sargasso Sea (a large area of the Atlantic Ocean near Bermuda) historically migrated up the Roanoke River into Virginia; that migration is blocked by hydroelectric and other dams unless fish ladders are available. Dominion was required by its 2005 relicensing agreement with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to put in ladders for eels and American Shad on the Roanoke Rapids dam and the upstream Lake Gaston dam. The Army Corps of Engineers operates the third (and uppermost) dam on the Roanoke River, which creates Kerr Lake in Mecklenburg County, Virginia. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is negotiating with the Corps to put in ladders for migratory fish on the Kerr Lake dam.  News source: Dominion gives eels a lift on river trip, Virginian-Pilot, 6/14/10. More information about Dominion Virginia Power’s Roanoke Rapids Power Station, including the eel ladders, is available at http://www.dom.com/about/stations/hydro/roanoke-rapids-power-station.jsp. Information about the Corps of Engineers’ John H. Kerr Dam and Reservoir is available at http://www.saw.usace.army.mil/jhkerr/index.htm.
WATER SOUNDS AND MUSIC

This week we feature a Virginia version of a popular song by a Nashville musician who also spends time around the Charlottesville area: “Hills and Hollers,” by Adrienne Young and Little Sadie. The original “Hills and Hollers” was on the 2005 album “The Art of Virtue” on the AddieBelle Music label. In 2007, Ms. Young and her group performed the song—with the verse you just heard—for the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries in a video about the Virginia Wildlife Action Plan. The Wildlife Action Plan is a 10-year strategic plan that identifies 925 species of greatest conservation need, the habitats that support these species, and the tasks needed to conserve the species and the habitats. For more information about the Virginia Wildlife Action Plan, and to see the Adrienne Young video, visit www.bewildvirginia.org. Thanks to the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries for permission to use this recording. More information about Adrienne Young is available at www.adrienneyoung.com and at www.myspace.com/adrienneyoung.

UPCOMING MEETINGS AND EVENTS

First, in government policy and regulatory meetings occurring between June23 and July 6. We’re covering two weeks this time, because Virginia Water Radio will be on a break next week.

  • On June 23, the Department of Health’s Sewage Handling and Disposal Appeal Review Board meets in Richmond. For more information, phone Donna Tiller at (804) 864-7470.
  • On July 1, the Board for Waterworks and Wastewater Works Operators and Onsite Sewage System Professionals holds an informal fact-finding conference for licensing. For more information, phone David Dick at (804) 367-8595
Here are four upcoming meetings about Total Maximum Daily Loads, or TMDLs, for impaired waters:
  • June 24 in Rockbridge Baths, on the TMDL implementation plan for Hays Creek and three tributaries in Rockbridge and Augusta counties. For more information, phone Nesha McRae at (540) 332-9238.
  • June 28 in Emporia, on the TMDL study for Fontaine Creek in Brunswick and Greensville counties. For more information, phone Margaret Smigo at (804) 527-5124.
  • June 30 in Alexandria, on the TMDL study for Cameron Run, Holmes Run, and Hunting Creek in Arlington County, Fairfax County, Alexandria, and Falls Church. For more information, phone Katie Conaway at (703) 583-3804.
  • Also on June 30, in Richmond, on the TMDL study for the James River and eight tributaries in Chesterfield County, Henrico County, Powhatan County, and Richmond. For more information, phone Margaret Smigo at (804) 527-5124.
Finally, in upcoming educational and recreational events:
  • On June 25 at Breaks Interstate Park in Dickenson County, the Big Sandy River Basin Coalition is holding the annual Big Sandy River Watershed Conference. For more information, phone Bobbie Rasnick at (276) 926-6621.
  • On June 26 and 27, Caledon State Park, located along the Potomac River in King George County, is participating in the Great American Backyard Camp-out, a nationwide effort to get individuals, families, and especially children to spend time outdoors. For more information, phone (540) 663-3861.
  • And last, also on June 26 and 27, the South Holston Fly Fishing Festival will be held in Bluff City, Tennessee, about 10 miles from Bristol, Virginia, along the South Fork Holston River. Proceeds from the event support the River’s Way Outdoor Adventure Center, a non-profit organization working with disabled and disadvantaged youth from Virginia, Tennessee, and other states. For more information, phone Knox Campbell at (423) 538-0405.

    For more information about government policy and regulatory meetings, click here for the Virginia Regulatory Town Hall, where these meetings are listed by date. E-mail addresses for contact people are available there. For TMDL meetings, click here for the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality TMDL Web site. Please note that TMDL meetings are also listed at the Town Hall site, but are included among all other meetings. In the educational and recreation events section, organizations, events, or both are hyperlinked whenever possible. Click on those links for more information.  
Virginia Water Radio is a product of the Virginia Water Resources Research Center, which is solely responsible for the show’s content. Hosting and bandwidth for this podcast are also provided by the Water Center. We invite you to visit the center online at www.vwrrc.vt.edu.

Show notes and production assistance were provided by Patrick Fay. Recording assistance was provided by the Office of University Relations at Virginia Tech.

Opinions expressed on this show are not necessarily those of the Water Center, Virginia Tech, or this station.

If you need more information about anything mentioned this week, call us at (540) 231-5463, or visit our web site at www.virginiawaterradio.org.

Monday, June 14, 2010

Virginia Water Radio 21: Week of June 14, 2010

Welcome to Virginia Water Radio (Episode 21) for the week of June 14, 2010. This week's show is hosted by Alan Raflo, research associate at the Virginia Water Resources Research Center, located at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. Our show presents news and notices that relate to Virginia’s waters, from the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean.

[Sound file deleted 12-13-11.  For access to archived file, contact Virginia Water Radio.]

NEWS

  • On June 2, the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, or DGIF, issued an update on the occurrence of spring fish kills and disease in the Shenandoah and James River basins. Spring kills of varying extent have been reported in the Shenandoah basin since 2004 and in the James basin since 2007. According to the update, this spring reports of disease or death in Smallmouth Bass and sunfish have been “light” in the Shenandoah basin and “almost non-existent” in the James basin, and the mortality and disease levels are similar to what was seen in 2009. Through studies of fish condition, aquatic invertebrates, potential chemical contaminants, and potential pathogens, state agency staff and scientists continue to work on finding the causes of the repeated spring kills and disease. But the DGIF report states that “determining the cause…has proven to be extremely difficult.”  News source: Shenandoah and James River Fish Disease and Mortality Investigation: Spring 2010 Update, Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, 6/2/10. More information about the chronic spring fish kills is available from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality’s Web site, http://www.deq.state.va.us/info/srfishkill.html.
  • On June 3, in Baltimore, the Chesapeake Executive Council held its annual meeting to discuss progress by the Bay states and federal government toward restoring the Chesapeake. The Executive Council includes chief executives from Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New York, West Virginia, the District of Columbia, the Chesapeake Bay Commission, the U.S. EPA, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The day before the annual meeting, 56 Bay-area politicians, scientists, and environmental organizations sent the executive council a letter in which they asserted that, quote, “after 26 years of effort, the formal Bay Program and the restoration efforts under the voluntary, collaborative approach currently in place have not worked, and current efforts have been insufficient and are failing,” unquote. The letter cited three examples where Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania are not making scheduled progress on various restoration goals, and it called for states to develop watershed implementation plans that include 25 specific state actions to reduce nutrient and sediment loads to the Bay.  News sources: “Region leaders cite progress in Chesapeake Bay cleanup; ecologists want EPA to act,” Washington Post, 6/4/10; and "Voluntary, Collaborative" Bay Cleanup Is Failing. A Call For Stronger Action and Regulation. Bay Daily, 6/2/10.
  • On June 5, a prescription drug and needle take-back program at two hospitals in Spotsylvania and Stafford counties attracted 143 people who dropped off 312 pounds of drugs and 19 bags of needles. The event was part of Operation Medicine Cabinet, a nationwide effort to prevent improper use of medications and to prevent environmental contamination of aquatic systems by unused medications. Pharmaceuticals are one group of so-called “emerging contaminants” in water resources that are suspected of being linked to endocrine, or hormonal, problems in aquatic animals, such as the presence of male and female characteristics in fish, which have been observed in various waterways, including the Potomac River.  News source: Program throws away meds, Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star, 6/8/10. More information about Operation Medicine Cabinet is available online at http://www.operationmedicinecabinet.org/. http://www.operationmedicinecabinet.org/. More information reports of intersex characteristics in fish in the Potomac River watershed is available from the November 24, 2009, Washington Post article, “Six years later, gender-bending fish in our water supply remain a mystery.” More information reports of intersex characteristics in fish nationwide is available from Widespread Occurrence of Intersex Bass Found in U.S. Rivers, U.S. Geological Survey News Release, 9/14/09.
  • And in our last news items this week: This spring at Swift Creek Elementary School in Midlothian (in Chesterfield County), fourth-graders teamed with kindergarteners to survey frogs living near Swift Creek, an Appomattox River tributary. The students placed about 100 PVC pipe sections around the creek in an attempt to attract frogs to these artificial shelters and allow the students to study the frogs’ life cycles and behavior, including the calls of different species. The project is one of several school-research projects around the state supported by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality’s Classroom Grant program. The grants are designed to help schools provide “meaningful watershed experiences” in which students participate in structured outdoor activities that involve investigation, problem-solving, and communicating conclusions.  News Source: Students get froggy in Swift Creek watershed, Chesterfield Observer, 5/27/10. More information: The definition of a “Meaningful Watershed Experience” is available at the DEQ Classroom Grants Web site, http://www.deq.state.va.us/vanaturally/classroomgrants.html, as of 6/1/10.
WATER SOUNDS AND MUSIC

This week we featured a new mystery sound: spouting whales.

12/15/14 note: This sounds segment has been replaced by Episode 399, 12/18/17.


UPCOMING MEETINGS AND EVENTS

First, in government policy and regulatory meetings occurring between June 17 and June 24.

  • On June 21, the State Water Control Board meets in Richmond. The meeting will continue on June 22 if necessary. For more information, phone Cindy Berndt at (804) 698-4378.
  •  Also on June 21, the Chesapeake Bay Local Assistance Board meets in Richmond. For more information, phone David Dowling at (804) 786-2291.
  • On June 22, the Virginia Marine Resources Commission meets in Newport News. For more information, phone Jane McCroskey at (757) 247-2215.
  • On June 23, the Department of Health’s Sewage Handling and Disposal Appeal Review Board meets in Richmond. For more information, phone Donna Tiller at (804) 864-7470.
Now, here’s one upcoming meeting about Total Maximum Daily Loads, or TMDLs, for impaired waters:
  • June 24 in Rockbridge Baths, on the TMDL implementation plan for Hays Creek and three tributaries in Rockbridge and Augusta counties. For more information, phone Nesha McRae at (540) 332-9238.
Finally, in upcoming educational and recreational events.  This week we focus on four river events coming up in July:
  • From July 8 to 11, the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin is holding the Potomac River Ramble, a paddling, camping, and learning trip. For more information, phone (301) 984-1908. 
  • On July 10, the James River Association is holding the James River Runoff Rundown, a fundraising activity attempting to have boaters cover all 340 miles of the James in one day. For more information, phone (804) 788-8811. 
  • On July 17, at the Low Water Bridge Campground in Warren County, the Potomac and Shenandoah Riverkeepers are holding the Shenandoah River Rodeo, an annual music, food, and paddling festival. For more information, phone (202) 222- 0707. 
  • And from July 24 to August 18—Saturdays through Wednesdays only—the National Committee for the New River is holding the New River Expedition, a trip along the length of the New from North Carolina to West Virginia. For more information, phone (336) 982-6267.

    For more information about government policy and regulatory meetings, click here for the Virginia Regulatory Town Hall, where these meetings are listed by date. E-mail addresses for contact people are available there. For TMDL meetings, click here for the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality TMDL Web site. Please note that TMDL meetings are also listed at the Town Hall site, but are included among all other meetings.  In the educational and recreation events section, organizations, events, or both are hyperlinked whenever possible. Click on those links for more information.
Virginia Water Radio is a product of the Virginia Water Resources Research Center, which is solely responsible for the show’s content. Hosting and bandwidth for this podcast are also provided by the Water Center. We invite you to visit the center online at www.vwrrc.vt.edu.

Show notes and production assistance were provided by Patrick Fay. Recording assistance was provided by the Office of University Relations at Virginia Tech.

Opinions expressed on this show are not necessarily those of the Water Center, Virginia Tech, or this station.

If you need more information about anything mentioned this week, call us at (540) 231-5463, or visit our web site at www.virginiawaterradio.org. 
 

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Virginia Water Radio 20: Week of June 7, 2010

Welcome to Virginia Water Radio (Episode 20) for the week of June 7, 2010. This week's show is hosted by Alan Raflo, research associate at the Virginia Water Resources Research Center, located at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. Our show presents news and notices that relate to Virginia’s waters, from the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean.

Sound file removed 11-28-11.  For access to archived copy, please contact Virginia Water Radio.

The Water Sounds and Music section of this episode, on Tundra Swans, has been replaced by Episode 554, 12-7-20.

NEWS

  • In May, the Annapolis, Md., Capital newspaper asked Chesapeake Bay experts for some facts about the Bay that citizens may or may not know. Here are the top 10 that the experts identified. See how many you already know! 1) The Bay’s 64,000-square-mile watershed gives it the largest land-to-water ratio of any estuary in the world. 2) Air pollution generates about one-third of the Bay’s nitrogen inputs. 3) In most communities, storm drains send water directly to streams, not through a wastewater-treatment plant. 4) Everyone who lives, works, or travels in the Bay watershed adds to the Bay’s pollutant load. 5) The latest annual survey estimated that 658 million Blue Crabs live in the Bay. 6) The Susquehanna River is the largest, single source of flow to the Bay. 7) The federal government currently spends about $250 million annually on the Bay. 8) The federal government owns about 5 percent of land in the Bay watershed. 9) The Bay is home to thousands of species of fish, birds, and other animals. And 10) Between 70 and 90 percent of Striped Bass, or Rockfish, along the Atlantic Coast are born in Bay tributaries and return to those tributaries each spring to spawn. News source: 10 things you didn't know about the bay, Annapolis (Md.) Capital, 5/22/10.
  • According to NBC 29 TV in Charlottesville, an April 21 warning letter from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, or DEQ, notified Charlottesville that 40 sewage overflow violations occurred between July 2008 and March 2010. The overflows can occur when too much stormwater enters cracks in aging sewer pipes. After the warning letter, the DEQ met with the City to hear of its plans to spend $28 million to repair or replace wastewater infrastructure, and the agency said that it considers the City’s efforts adequate at this point.  News sources: Charlottesville receives DEQ warning letter, NBC 29, 5/25/10. 
  • According to the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot: On May 27, the Hampton Roads Sanitation District and the Canadian company Ostara dedicated a $5-million facility at the Suffolk wastewater treatment plant that can produce fertilizer from struvite, a material resulting from phosphorus build-up on the plant’s pipes. The Suffolk facility is apparently only the second one in the United States. The process does not remove any additional phosphorus from the wastewater, but it improves plant performance by removing pipe-blocking build-ups, and it makes use of a product that previously has been burned in the plant’s incinerator. The fertilizer generated is being marketed by Ostara as “Crystal Green” in the Hampton Roads area. News source: Suffolk facility to turn sewage into fertilizer is christened, Virginian-Pilot, 5/28/10. More information: The first struvite-to-fertilizer facility opened in 2009 in Oregon. 
  • And the last news item this week is our monthly water status report. First, in precipitation: According to the Southeast Regional Climate Center, from May 2nd to 31st precipitation ranged between 2 and 6 inches in most of Virginia, with 6 to 8 inches in some northern and far-southwestern areas. Average precipitation in Virginia in May is between about 3 and 6 inches, depending on one’s location. Second, in stream flow: According to the U.S. Geological Survey’s WaterWatch, streamflows averaged over the month of May were normal at most gaging stations in the Commonwealth, below-normal at some locations in the Holston, James, Shenandoah, and York river basins, and above-normal at some far southwestern locations. And last, our drought watch: The weekly National Drought Monitor on June 1 showed Virginia again being drought-free. About 30 percent of the state was rated as abnormally dry, however, in the May 11th Drought Monitor, but no drought conditions have been indicated for Virginia since the May 18th report.  Sources and additional information: Precipitation: Southeast Regional Climate Center precipitation maps, http://www.sercc.com/climateinfo/precip_maps; see below for the two maps used this week. Average precipitation, over the period 1971—2000, is from the National Climatic Data Center, Climatography of the United States No. 81-Virginia, online at http://cdo.ncdc.noaa.gov/climatenormals/clim81/VAnorm.pdf. Streamflow: U.S. Geological Survey WaterWatch for Virginia, http://waterwatch.usgs.gov/?m=mv01d&r=va&w=pa28d%2Cmap; see map and color-code chart below. Drought: The National Drought Monitor map is at http://www.drought.unl.edu/dm/monitor.html.

Monthly average streamflow for May 2010, compared to historical records.

WATER SOUNDS AND MUSIC

This week we featured a new mystery sound: The Tundra Swan (Whistling Swan)

Tundra Swans breed in the Arctic but spend their winters along the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts. In Virginia, the birds are found between November and February around the Chesapeake Bay, on the Eastern Shore, and in Back Bay in Virginia Beach. Thanks to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Sound Clips Web site for making this recording available for public use. Information about Tundra Swans and other swans found in Virginia is available online from the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries Web site, http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/wildlife/swan/descriptions.asp. “Swan Songs,” an article on Tundra Swans by Dotty Holcomb Doherty and published in the Nov. 8-14, 2007, issue of Bay Weekly (Vol. 15, Issue 45), is available online at http://www.bayweekly.com/year07/issuexv45/leadxv45_2.html. Additional source: Birds of North America, St. Martin’s Press, 2001. 

UPCOMING MEETINGS AND EVENTS

First, in government policy and regulatory meetings occurring between June 9 and June 16.
  • On June 10, the Mined Land Reclamation Advisory Committee meets in Big Stone Gap. The agenda includes a review of permit issues with the Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. EPA. For more information, phone Jackie Davis at (276) 523-8282.
  • On June 14, the Waste Management Board meets in Richmond. For more information, phone Debra Miller at (804) 698-4206.
  • On June 16, the Gas and Oil Board meets in Lebanon. For more information, phone David Asbury at (276) 415-9700.
  • Also on June 16, the Board of Conservation and Recreation meets in Richmond. For more information, phone David Dowling at (804) 786-2291.
Now here are two meetings about Total Maximum Daily Loads, or TMDLs, for impaired waters:
  • June 15, in Madison, on the TMDL implementation plan for Little Dark Run and the Robinson River in Madison County. For more information, phone Bob Slusser at (540) 351-1590.
  • And June 16, in Carson, on the TMDL study for Hatcher Run in Dinwiddie County and an unnamed tributary to Nebletts Mill Run in Sussex County. For more information, phone Margaret Smigo at (804) 527-5124.
Finally, in educational or recreational events:
For more information about government policy and regulatory meetings, click here for the Virginia Regulatory Town Hall, where these meetings are listed by date. For TMDL meetings, click here for the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality TMDL Web site.

Virginia Water Radio is a product of the Virginia Water Resources Research Center, which is solely responsible for the show’s content. Hosting and bandwidth for this podcast are also provided by the Water Center. We invite you to visit the center online at www.vwrrc.vt.edu.

Show notes and production assistance were provided by Patrick Fay. Recording assistance was provided by the Office of University Relations at Virginia Tech.

Opinions expressed on this show are not necessarily those of the Water Center, Virginia Tech, or this station.

If you need more information about anything mentioned this week, call us at (540) 231-5463, or visit our web site at www.virginiawaterradio.org.