To the Secretary of Natural Resources and the State Water Control Board,

I fully support the State Water Control Board's efforts to regulate plasticulture operations, particularly the requirement that tomato growers and other plasticulture farmers employ the full array of best management practices to eliminate impacts on local water quality. Failure to comply should result in financial penalties.

On a visit to the Eastern Shore in early January, I watched swirling columns of soil blow over fallow tomato fields with no cover crop or other steps taken to hold the soil in place. Subsequent heavy rains washed sediment, fertilizer and chemicals into local ditches and creeks, a waste of a precious resource, soil, and an unacceptable impact on local water quality.

Clam aquaculture is entirely dependant on high local water quality. It is also one of  the few financial success stories in the fishing industry on the Eastern Shore in the past decade. The demand for Eastern Shore clams has put dozens of watermen back to work. We cannot allow the impact from agricultural producers to erode or destroy the gains in the clam aquaculture industry on the Eastern Shore or elsewhere in the Commonwealth.

Thank you for your efforts to preserve our water quality in Virginia.

Megan Gallagher

The Plains