Virginia Regulatory Town Hall
Agency
Department of Environmental Quality
Board
Department of Environmental Quality

General Notice
General Notice - Citizen Nomination of State Surface Waters - Annual Water Quality Monitoring Plan
Date Posted: 1/12/2017
Expiration Date: 4/30/2017
Submitted to Registrar for publication: YES
No comment forum defined for this notice.

PURPOSE OF GUIDANCE DOCUMENT:  This document provides detailed guidance on implementation of §62.1-44.19:5.F, a section of the State Water Control Law that provides for requests from the public regarding specific segments that should be included in the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality’s (DEQ) annual Water Quality Monitoring Plan.

VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY CONTACT:  Questions concerning this document should be addressed to the contact person listed below. 

BACKGROUND ON THE GUIDANCE DOCUMENT:  A provision of the State Water Control Law (§62.1-44.19:5.F) directs DEQ to provide a procedure for citizens of the Commonwealth to nominate portions of lakes, streams, and rivers of Virginia for water quality monitoring by DEQ. Citizens can send their nominations to DEQ via the procedures described below. Nominations received by April 30, 2017, will be considered for inclusion in DEQ's annual monitoring plan for the 2018 calendar year. The monitoring plan will be finalized after considering the citizen's nominations for inclusion.  DEQ will respond to each request in writing, stating the reasons for accepting or denying each nomination. DEQ’s response is due by August 31 for nominations received between January 1 and April 30.

PROCESS TO REQUEST ADDITIONAL MONITORING:  Any person may request that a specific body of water be included in DEQ's annual water quality monitoring plan. Each request received between January 1 and April 30, shall be reviewed when DEQ develops or updates the annual water quality monitoring plan. Such requests shall include, at a minimum (i) a geographical description of the water body recommended for monitoring; (ii) the reason the monitoring is requested, and (iii) any water quality data that the petitioner may have collected or compiled. Please see the nominating form (Attachment 1 below).

Please note that the monitoring program covered by this process is directed at the surface waters of the state. Private ponds, privately owned lakes and any other body of water not deemed to be "State Waters" are ineligible.

Nominations can be submitted by mail, fax, email, or hand delivered to the receptionist’s desk at our Central Office at 629 East Main Street, Richmond, Virginia.

Use of the nomination form shown in Attachment 1 is preferred. All nominations with the minimum of information as outlined above will be accepted for review.

TIMELINE:  Nominations received between January 1 and April 30, 2017 will be considered for inclusion in DEQ’s Water Quality Monitoring plan for the following calendar year (2018). DEQ will respond in writing on its approval or denial of each nomination by August 31, 2017. The DEQ 2018 monitoring plan will be made available for public inspection. A notice of availability of the annual monitoring plan will be placed in the Virginia Register and on DEQ's web site at http://www.deq.virginia.gov/Programs/Water.aspx

ATTACHMENT 1

REQUEST TO INCLUDE A WATER SEGMENT IN DEQ’S ANNUAL MONITORING PLAN

Name:

 

Date:

 

Mailing Address:

 

Street

City:

 

State:

 

Zip:

 

E-mail address:

 

 

Telephone: Home:

 

Business:

 

Fax:

 

                           

Geographic description of the water body:

(1) Name of the water body or segment proposed for monitoring:

 

 (2) Description of the upstream and downstream boundaries of the water body proposed for monitoring. Attach a map (preferably a photocopy of a 7.5 minute quad USGS topographic map) which delineates the boundaries:

 

 (3) Reason for requesting that this water body be monitored:

 

(4) Attach any water quality data that you have collected or compiled. Include the name of the organization/entity that generated the data.


Contact Information
Name / Title: Stuart Torbeck 
Address: 629 East Main Street
P.O. Box 1105
Richmond, 23218
Email Address: charges.torbeck@deq.virginia.gov
Telephone: (804)698-4461    FAX: (804)698-4032    TDD: ()-