Bond money slated to help clean up the Rappahannock River and Chesapeake Bay

BY JONAS BEALS

Date published: 10/2/2008

BY JONAS BEALS

Stafford and Fauquier counties will get money to upgrade wastewater treatment plants to help clean up the Chesapeake Bay.

About $188 million in bonds from the state's Clean Water Revolving Loan Fund will be distributed around the state.

State regulators, working with the Environmental Protection Agency, hope to meet 2010 goals to clean up point-source pollution and reduce the volume of nutrients flowing into the bay.

Point-source pollution comes from a single discharge outlet, typically a pipe flowing into a body of water. Non-point-source pollution is everything else that drains into a body of water, including urban and agricultural runoff.

Walter Gills, program manager at the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, said the funds won't cure all the bay's problems.

"I expect point-source discharge to meet the goals, but I'm not so sure about non-point source," he said.

All told, 10 localities will receive funds, with Arlington County taking the largest slice. $50 million will cover upgrades to the water pollution-control plant there.

Fauquier plans to use approximately $6 million to upgrade treatment facilities in Marshall and Remington. Both empty into the Rappahannock River watershed.

"We're looking at two nutrient removal upgrades," Fauquier Water and Sanitation Authority General Manager Barney Durrett said. "Specifically, we're trying to lower the nitrogen and phosphorus levels."

Stafford stands to get between $5.5 and $7.6 million to upgrade the Little Falls Run Wastewater Treatment Plant that discharges into the Rappahannock.

A similar project is under way at the Aquia Wastewater Treatment Plant, said Harry Critzer, Stafford's assistant director of utilities.

Treatment plant upgrades typically include additional structures and equipment to aerate and clarify water before it is discharged, although specific needs vary.

John Tippett, executive director for Friends of the Rappahannock, said the funding is a good thing.

"It will help us meet our goals and do what it takes to get the crab and oyster populations back up. It helps us get the bay back in shape."

He cautions, however, that only 10 percent of the Rappahannock's nutrient load comes from point-source pollution. Uncontrolled runoff accounts for the vast majority of nutrient pollution in the area.

Jonas Beals: 540/368-5036
Email: jbeals@freelancestar.com

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Date published: 10/2/2008