Monday, January 31, 2011

Virginia Water Radio 51: Week of Jan. 31, 2011

Audio for this episode has been archived, as of 1/12/18.

From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is Virginia Water Radio (Episode 51), for the week of January 31, 2011.


NEWS
  • In late January in Lynchburg, all that people wanted to talk about was stormwater, according to one city council member. Stormwater is a lively topic in the Hill City because on January 25 the city council began considering a possible stormwater-management utility fee, which would be based on the amount of impervious surface on properties. A majority of a citizen’s committee that met for several months in 2010 recommended the fee as a way to address the city’s stormwater management needs and costs. The city currently spends about $2.3 million per year from general revenues for stormwater. Supplementing these general revenues, the proposed fee—estimated to raise $1.75 million in the first year, increasing over time— would allow the City to begin planning for increased costs resulting from the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load, or TMDL, and from possible changes to Virginia’s state stormwater regulations. The City’s most recent estimate of pending stormwater costs is about $120 million through 2025. News sources: Water quality regulations may cost city millions , Lynchburg News & Advance, 11/17/10 (posted 11/30; Lynchburg eyes fees for water standards, Lynchburg News & Advance, 11/22/10; Stormwater fee floated for city property owners, Lynchburg News & Advance, 1/4/11; and City Council to consider storm water fee proposal Tuesday, Lynchburg News & Advance, 1/25/11.
  • With the beginning of February, the 2011 Virginia General Assembly approaches the half-way point. The Assembly has been considering about 2500 bills, including over 200 bills dealing directly or indirectly with water. Here are some of the water-related topics that have been under consideration: permits for wetland-affecting activities, management of the Menhaden fishery, fees on disposable plastic bags, aquaculture opportunity zones for raising oysters, land-preservation tax credits, regulation of lawn fertilizers, incentives for renewable energy, coastal shoreline management, bisphenol-A in baby bottles or other child-care products, and inter-basin water transfers. On some of these topics, action for 2011 has already been completed, but others are still being considered. If you’re interested in what’s happening with water in the General Assembly, the Virginia Water Center’s Web site—at www.vwrrc.vt.edu--has a link to an online inventory of water-related bills. And always feel free to contact your local delegate or senator. News source: Virginia Water Center Web site, “Water in the Virginia General Assembly,” http://www.vwrrc.vt.edu/legislation.html.
  • With testing conducted in November 2010 and in January 2011, and with more scheduled to start February 7, the U.S. EPA continues to investigate groundwater contamination in the town of Louisa. In October 2010, town officials discovered the chemical tetracholoroethylene, also known as perchloroehtylene or PERC, in an unused well being considered as a potential public water supply. Perc is used for dry cleaning, metal de-greasing, and other purposes, and the material can travel relatively easily through soils. Three of five private wells tested by the EPA in November were also found to have been contaminated, including two occupied homes whose residents are being provided with bottled water. But perc was not found in current town or county public water supplies, which serve most residents in the area. News sources: Tainted wells due more tests, Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star, 1/25/11; and “EPA investigating contaminated wells in Louisa,” Central Virginian, 12/15/10. More information about tetracholoroethylene (perc) is available online from the EPA at http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/hlthef/tet-ethy.html.
  • And in our last news item this week: Have you heard of Recyclemania? The program, coordinated by the College and University Recycling Coalition, Keep America Beautiful, and the EPA's WasteWise program, conducts an annual friendly competition to see which college or university can achieve the greatest reduction in trash. Since the first competition in 2001, which included only two schools, the participation has grown this year to more than 600 schools, including at least 19 in Virginia. Following two weeks of practice that began January 23, the official competition runs from February 6 to April 2. News source: Recyclemania returns to Virginia Tech, Virginia Tech News, 1/26/11; and Recyclemania Web site, http://recyclemaniacs.org/index.htm, 1/27/11. 
 WATER SOUNDS AND MUSIC

This week we feature another selection from the singer/songwriter known as the “Bard of the Chesapeake Bay,” “Native Land,” performed by Tom Wisner and Teresa Whitaker on the 1978 album, “Chesapeake Born-The Songs of Tom Wisner and Mark,” from Folkways Records. In the liner notes to the album, Mr. Wisner wrote that the song was for “Uncle Roy and the land around Scottsville on the James River.” Founded in 1744, the Albemarle County town of Scottsville sits beside a horseshoe curve of the James River, which has been the basis of the town’s 18th and 19th Century waterborne commerce, the threat and reality of flooding, and modern-day river-centered tourism and recreation. “The Songs of Tom Wisner and Mark” is available for sample listening and purchase on the Smithsonian Folkways Web site at http://www.folkways.si.edu/index.aspx; a PDF of the liner notes is also available. More information about Tom Wisner is available from A Bay's Life in Story and Song: A Celebration of Tom Wisner, Baynet.com, 1/16/10. Information on Scottsville was taken from the Town of Scottsville’s Web site, http://www.scottsville.org/, 1/28/11.

UPCOMING MEETINGS AND EVENTS
First, in Virginia government policy and regulatory meetings, occurring between February 3 and February 9. 
  • On February 3, the Advisory Board for the Coal Surface Mining Reclamation Fund meets in Big Stone Gap. For more information, phone Gavin Bledsoe at (276) 523-3212.
  • On February 4, the State Water Control Board meets in Richmond. For more information, phone Cindy Berndt at (804) 698-4378. 
  • On February 7, the Master Plan Advisory Committee for Lake Anna State Park meets in Spotsylvania. For more information, phone Lynn Crump at (804) 786-5054.
During this period, there is one meeting about Total Maximum Daily Loads, or TMDLs, for impaired waters:
  • February 8, in Orange, on the TMDL implementation plan for bacteria impairments in six York River basin streams—Beaver Creek, Goldmine Creek, Mountain Run, Pamunkey Creek, Plentiful Creek, and Terry’s Run—in Louisa, Orange, and Spotsylvania counties. For more information, phone May Sligh at (804) 443-1494.
Finally, in educational and recreational events:
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 Virginia Water Resources Research 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 Virginia Water Resources Research Center, Virginia Tech, or our broadcasting stations.

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, January 24, 2011

Virginia Water Radio 50: Week of Jan. 24, 2011

From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is Virginia Water Radio (Episode 50), for the week of January 24, 2011.

Audio archived 1/17/14.  Please contact Virginia Water Radio to request access to the audio file.
The "Water Sounds and  Music" segment of this episode has been replaced by Episode 197, 1-20-14.


NEWS
  • In early January, Virginia Tech announced that Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor Marc Edwards will lead a $450,000 study examining the federal Lead and Copper regulation. Issued in 1991 by the U.S. EPA under the Safe Drinking Water Act, the lead and copper regulation is intended to prevent harmful levels of these two toxic metals in drinking water. The research project will examine three aspects of the regulation: sampling methods for measuring lead levels; replacement of water lines containing lead; and public education on safe water-use practices. Funds for the research come from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Other groups participating in the research are the Washington, D.C., Water and Sewer Authority; Parents for Nontoxic Alternatives, a non-profit organization in Washington; the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington; Northeastern University in Boston; the Childhood Lead Action Project in Providence, R.I.; the Metropolitan Tenants Organization of Chicago; the Vanguard Community Development Corporation in Detroit; and the EPA’s Office of Research and Development. News source: Marc Edwards to head $450,000 study to identify lead risks in drinking water, Virginia Tech News, 1/4/11.

  • On January 10, the American Farm Bureau Federation and its Pennsylvania affiliate filed suit in federal district court in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to force the U.S. EPA to re-start its process of developing the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load, or TMDL, which the agency issued on December 29, 2010. The Farm Bureau suit alleges that the EPA exceeded its authority, used inaccurate or inadequate scientific information, and allowed too little time for public input and response during development of the TMDL. News sources: Farm Bureau sues over 'pollution diet' for the bay, Virginian-Pilot, 1/12/11; and Farm Bureau sues EPA in Pa. federal court over Chesapeake Bay cleanup standards, Newport News Daily Press, 1/12/11. 

  • On January 7, Governor McDonnell’s administration announced several agricultural and forestry initiatives for the 2011 Virginia General Assembly and beyond. The initiatives include several budget amendments for the 2011 Assembly session. Two water-related amendments are the following: first, $400,000 in additional funds for Virginia's Purchase of Development Rights program to preserve of farmland and forests, raising the program's total annual appropriation to $500,000; and second, about $186,000 for two new positions in the Agriculture Stewardship Act program, with one person stationed in the Shenandoah Valley and the other in Richmond but focusing on the Northern Neck, Tidewater, and Eastern Shore regions. The two new Ag Stewardship program staff members will work to help family farms meet water-quality goals in the Chesapeake Bay region, fulfilling one requirement of Virginia’s Watershed Implementation Plan for the Bay TMDL. News source: Secretary Haymore Announces Governor's Agriculture and Forestry Initiatives for 2011 – Virginia Governor’s Office News Release, 1/7/11.
  • And in our last news item this week: This year the Elizabeth River Project, a non-profit watershed organization in Norfolk, will launch its River Star Homes program. The program will recruit area residents to take various actions to reduce pollution reaching the river, such as reducing fertilizer use, not putting oily or greasy food waste down kitchen drains, and reducing stormwater runoff from houses and yards. Following a 2010 pilot project with about 25 residences on the Lafayette River, the full-scale program aims to recruit 25,000 residences by 2020. The Hampton Roads Sanitation District is providing $120,000 for the program, which begins officially on April 30. News source: Elizabeth River Project cleanup effort comes home, Virginian-Pilot, 1/19/11.

WATER SOUNDS AND MUSIC

This week we feature another mystery sound: The Canvasback Duck

Canvasback ducks winter in the Chesapeake Bay and along the east and west coasts of the United States, but they migrate to prairies of Canada and northern states for spring and summer. A relatively large duck, Canvasbacks are also recognizable by the male's red-headed appearance. Canvasbacks are considered diving ducks, because typically they go completely underwater to obtain food and avoid predators, in contrast to dabbling ducks, which typically don't completely submerge themselves. Thanks to Lang Elliott of NatureSound Studio for providing this recording. Information on Canvasbacks was taken from A Guide to Field Identification of Birds of North America, by Chandler S. Robbins et al. (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2001); Life in the Chesapeake Bay, by Alice Jane Lippson and Robert L. Lippson (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006); and the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology’s “Bird Guide” Web site at http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/search. Another good source of information is “Birds of North America Online” at http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna.  

UPCOMING MEETINGS AND EVENTS

First, in Virginia government policy and regulatory meetings, occurring between Jan. 27 and Feb. 2. 

  • On January 28 in Lebanon, the Department of Mines, Minerals, and Energy holds an informal hearing on a notice of permit violation at a Dominion Coal Corporation mining site, regarding the mine’s chemical agent treatment process, post-mining land use, and area covered by the permit. For more information, phone Harve Mooney at (276) 523-8271. According to Virginia DMME Notice of Violation Number JDR0004533, the notice of violation to Dominion Coal Corporation concerns needed revisions to the company’s permit number 1200194, regarding its chemical agent treatment process, a change from the post-mining land use from forest to gas wells, and the permit boundary.
Next, here is one meeting about Total Maximum Daily Loads, or TMDLs, for impaired waters:
  • February 1, in Richmond, on the TMDL study for polychlorinated biphenyl- (or PCB-) impaired sections of the James River, Appomattox River, Bailey Creek, Bailey Bay, and Chickahominy River, located from the Fall Line to Charles City County and Surry County. This meeting is rescheduled from January 11. For more information, phone Margaret Smigo at (804) 527-5124.
Finally, in educational and recreational events:
  • On January 29 at Bissett Park in Radford, the Radford City Police Department and several Radford University organizations are holding the Highlander Polar Plunge. For a donation of $25 to benefit Special Olympics, participants will take a cold plunge into the New River. For more information, phone (540) 951-2918.
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 Virginia Water Resources Research Center. We invite you to visit the center online at www.vwrrc.vt.edu.

Show notes and production assistance were provided by Patrick Fay. Emily Whitesell helped write this week’s show. Recording assistance was provided by the Office of University Relations at Virginia Tech.

Opinions expressed on this show are not necessarily those of the Virginia Water Resources Research Center, Virginia Tech, or our broadcasting stations.

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, January 17, 2011

Virginia Water Radio 49: Week of Jan. 17, 2011

From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is Virginia Water Radio (Episode 49), for the week of January 17, 2011.

Audio archived 7-23-12; please contact Virginia Water Radio for access to the audio file (length = 11 min. 4 sec.).

NEWS

Our water news segment this week focuses on one of the many connections between water and energy. Water Center Research Scientist Sheila Christopher is a member of a research group investigating the biofuel potential of Switchgrass planted among Loblolly Pine trees. In the included interview with Virginia Water Radio producer Patrick Fay, Dr. Christopher discusses some of the water-resources connections of her research and of biofuels in general. The Virginia Tech homepage featured this research in a spotlight on innovation article titled: Water center scientist studies environmental impact of using switchgrass as a biofuel.  Click here  for the full story and a special video presentation.

WATER SOUNDS AND MUSIC

This week we feature “The Wreck of the 1256,” in a 1925 performance by Vernon Dalhart, reproduced on the 1981 album “Native Virginia Ballads and Songs” from the Blue Ridge Institute in Ferrum, Virginia. The song describes the January 1925 derailment of a train traveling beside the James River from Clifton Forge toward Richmond. A rock slide onto the tracks caused the locomotive to fall into the James, killing one person. But the tragedy could have been much worse, because a passenger train had passed the same spot not long before the rock slide occurred. Information on the song “The Wreck of the 1256” was taken from the Blue Ridge Institute and Museum’s online exhibit, “Deathly Lyrics: Songs of Virginia Tragedies,” accessed at http://www.blueridgeinstitute.org/ballads/onlinexhibit.html (1/14/11); and from Norm Cohen, Long Steel Rail: The Railroad in American Folksong, 2nd ed. (Champaign, Ill: University of Illinois Press, 2000), p. 241; accessed at http://books.google.com/books, 1/14/11).

UPCOMING MEETINGS AND EVENTS

First, in Virginia government policy and regulatory meetings occurring between January 20 and 26:
  • On January 21, the Stormwater Management Program Regulations Advisory Panel meets in Richmond. Then, on January 24, the Stormwater Best Management Practices Clearinghouse Committee meets in Charlottesville. For more information about either of these stormwater meetings, phone David Dowling at (804) 786-2291. The Stormwater Management Regulations Advisory Panel is advising the Soil and Water Conservation Board in considering amendments to Virginia Stormwater Management Program Permit Regulations (4 VAC 50-60 in the Virginia Administrative Code.) More information and relevant documents about the proposed stormwater changes are available online at http://www.townhall.state.va.us/L/viewchapter.cfm?chapterid=1145. The Stormwater Best Management Practices (BMPs) Clearinghouse is a Web site on design standards and specifications of all stormwater BMPs approved for use in Virginia to control the quality and/or quantity of stormwater runoff. More information about the Stormwater BMP Clearinghouse Committee is available at http://www.vwrrc.vt.edu/swc/.
  • On January 24, the Biscuit Run State Park Master Plan Advisory Committee meets in Charlottesville. For more information, phone Janit Llewellyn at (804) 786-0887.  The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation has land in Albemarle County that will eventually become Biscuit Run State Park.
  • And on January 26 in Richmond, the State Board of Health will hold a public hearing on regulations for alternative onsite sewage systems. For more information, phone Allen Knapp at (804) 864-7458. The regulations, under Virginia Administrative Code section 12VAC5-613, establish requirements for performance, operation, and maintenance of alternative onsite sewage systems. Relevant documents and information on the process of the regulation are available online at http://www.townhall.state.va.us/L/viewaction.cfm?actionid=3184&display=stages.
Now, here are five meetings about Total Maximum Daily Loads, or TMDLs, for impaired waters:
  •  January 20 in Colonial Beach, on bacteria impairments in the Nomini and Rosier creek watersheds in King George and Westmoreland counties. For more information, phone Margaret Smigo at (804) 527-5124.
  • January 20 in Appalachia, on bacteria impairments in Callahan Creek in Wise County. For more information, phone Allen Newman at (276) 676-4804.
  • January 25 in Louisa and January 26 in Orange, on bacteria impairments in six York River basin streams in Louisa, Orange, and Spotsylvania counties. For more information, phone May Sligh at (804) 443-1494.
  • January 26 in Machipongo, on bacteria impairments in Kings Creek in Northampton County. For more information, phone Jennifer Howell at (757) 518-2111.
Finally, in educational and 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. 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. 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 Virginia Water Resources Research 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 Virginia Water Resources Research Center, Virginia Tech, or our broadcasting stations.

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, January 10, 2011

Virginia Water Radio 48: Week of Jan. 10, 2011

From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is Virginia Water Radio (Episode 48), for the week of January 10, 2011.

Audio archived 9-10-12; please contact Virginia Water Radio for access to audio file (length = 9 min/19 sec).

The "Water Sounds and Music" segment of this episode has been replaced by Episode 127, 9-10-12.

NEWS

  • On December 29, the U.S. EPA established the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (or TMDL), which the EPA calls a “landmark ‘pollution diet’ to restore clean water in [the Bay] and the region’s streams, creeks and rivers.” The plans’ goal is for the six Bay states and the District of Columbia to implement by 2025 the actions needed to reduce nitrogen in Bay waters by 25 percent, phosphorus by 24 percent, and sediment by 20 percent. Those actions are identified in Phase I Watershed Implementation Plans submitted by the Bay jurisdictions. The EPA news release on the TMDL states that the agency will “...regularly oversee each of the jurisdictions’ programs to make sure they implement the pollution control plans [and] remain on schedule for meeting water quality goals.” The agency’s oversight may include challenging state permits or taking enforcement actions on wastewater-treatment systems, municipal stormwater systems, or confined animal feeding operations. The agency also plans what it calls “enhanced oversight” of urban stormwater in Virginia and West Virginia, agriculture in Pennsylvania, and wastewater in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The next key phase of the Bay TMDL process will be development of Phase II Watershed Implementation Plans to identify local actions needed to reach pollution-reduction targets for individual watersheds. News sources: EPA Establishes Landmark Chesapeake Bay ‘Pollution Diet’, U.S. EPA News Release, 12/29/10; EPA unveils massive restoration plan for Chesapeake Bay, Washington Post, 12/30/10; and Impact EPA's Chesapeake Bay plan will have on Valley unknown, Staunton News Leader, 1/4/11. The complete Bay TMDL and other items are available at the EPA’s Bay TMDL Web site, http://www.epa.gov/chesapeakebaytmdl/. For Virginia’s official response to the December 29 release of the TMDL, EPA Accepts Virginia's Chesapeake Bay Cleanup Plan, Virginia Governor’s Office News Release, 12/29/10. 
  • In a closely related item: On December 28, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, or CBF, released its annual “State of the Bay Report,” for conditions in 2010. In each report, CBF rates 13 biological and chemical measurements from 0 to 100, with 100 intended to represent conditions as described by European settler Captain John Smith in the early 1600s. In the 2010 report, the average score was 31, a three-point improvement from 2008. The overall increase in 2010 was due to increased scores for eight of the 13 indicators, including a large increase in the score for Blue Crab populations. Scores for forested buffers, wetlands, Blue Crabs, and Rockfish were all fair or better. But scores for nitrogen, phosphorus, dissolved oxygen, toxics, underwater grasses, oysters, resource lands, and shad continued to be “poor” or “critical,” despite some slight improvements. News sources: Health of Bay getting better, Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star, 12/28/10; and CBF State of the Bay Web site, 12/29/10. CBF “State of the Bay” reports are available online at www.cbf.org; or contact CBF’s Virginia office at (804) 780-1392. 
  • As of December 2010, Longwood University, in Farmville, was nearing final regulatory approval for a 215-acre, non-profit, wetlands-mitigation bank to be located on the Hull Spring Farm property in Westmoreland County. Longwood received the farm in a bequest. Once Longwood receives permits from the Army Corps of Engineers and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, the university will begin restoring wetlands on the property while selling credits to builders as compensation for wetlands damage elsewhere in the Potomac River watershed. Besides providing wetlands credits, the wetlands bank will offer educational and research opportunities, including a 10-year study by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science on the bank’s effectiveness in wetland and stream restoration. News source: Longwood creating wetlands bank in Neck, Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star, 12/21/10. 
  • And the last news item this week is our monthly water status report. 
    • First, in precipitation. Here are National Weather Service preliminary rainfall totals for December 2010 at several Virginia locations: Richmond, 3.3 inches, which is 0.2 inches above normal; Norfolk, 2.9 inches, or 0.1 inches below normal; Bristol, 2.6 inches, or 0.8 inches below normal; Roanoke, 2 inches, or 0.9 inches below normal; Danville, 1.8 inches, or 1.4 inches below normal; and Dulles Airport, 1.5 inches, or 1.6 inches below normal.
    • Second, in stream flow: According to the U.S. Geological Survey’s WaterWatch, streamflows averaged over the month of December were in the normal range at about 72 percent of stream gages in Virginia or just beyond the state border. Flows were below normal at about 22 percent of gages, mostly in the eastern part of the state; and above normal at about 5 percent of gages. 

WATER SOUNDS AND MUSIC

This week we feature another mystery sound: The Green Heron

During the summer, Green Herons are common around ponds, small streams, and other wet areas throughout Virginia and the eastern half of the United States, but they spend the winter along the southern U.S. coasts and in Central and South America. Green Herons are one of the smallest herons found in North America; they’re only about one-third as tall as North America’s largest heron, the Great Blue. Thanks to Lang Elliott of NatureSound Studio for providing this recording. Information on Green Herons was taken from A Guide to Field Identification of Birds of North America, by Chandler S. Robbins et al. (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2001) and the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology’s “Bird Guide” Web site at http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/search. Another good source of information is “Birds of North America Online” at http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna. 

UPCOMING MEETINGS AND EVENTS

First, in Virginia government policy and regulatory meetings, occurring between January 12 and 19. 
  • On January 12, the 2011 Virginia General Assembly convenes in Richmond for a scheduled 30-day session. 
  • On January 13, a sub-committee of the Stormwater Management Program Regulations Advisory Panel meets in Richmond. For more information, phone David Dowling at (804) 786-2291. The Stormwater Management Regulations Advisory Panel is advising the Soil and Water Conservation Board in considering amendments to Virginia Stormwater Management Program Permit Regulations (4 VAC 50-60 in the Virginia Administrative Code.) More information and relevant documents about the proposed stormwater changes are available online at http://www.townhall.state.va.us/L/viewchapter.cfm?chapterid=1145.
  • On January 19, the Goose Creek Scenic River Advisory Committee meets in Purcellville. For more information, phone David Dowling at (804) 786-2291 
Now, here is one meeting about Total Maximum Daily Loads, or TMDLs, for impaired waters: 
  • January 19, in Afton, on the TMDL study for aquatic-life and bacteria impaired sections of Taylor Creek, and for bacteria-impaired sections of the North Fork Rockfish River, South Fork Rockfish River, and the main stem Rockfish River, all in Nelson County. For more information, phone Tara Sieber at (540) 574-7870. 
Finally, in educational and recreational events: 
  • On January 27, from 8 a.m.-12 noon at the Williamsburg Lodge, the Virginia Association of Surveyors is holding a Riparian Rights Technical Session as part of the association’s annual convention. For more information, phone (804) 262-1351. 
  • And last, here’s a way to learn a lot about Virginia rivers while helping monitor their health. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (or NOAA) needs volunteers for its Phytoplankton Monitoring Network. Phytoplankton are microscopic, floating algae that help indicate water-quality conditions. Volunteers who can sample year-round from the shore or docks along the Potomac or Rappahannock rivers can provide valuable information about water quality and the potential for algal blooms. Volunteer training takes about four hours. For more information, contact Matt Brim at (843) 762-8656.  
For more information about government policy and regulatory meetings, click here for the Virginia Regulatory Town Hall. Click here for Virginia General Assembly legislative committee and commission meetings. 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). 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 Virginia Water Resources Research 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 Virginia Water Resources Research Center, Virginia Tech, or our broadcasting stations.

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.