RD207 - Annual Report on the Status of the State Water Control Board's Efforts to Reduce the Level of Toxic Substances in Sate Waters


Executive Summary:
On January 1st of each year, the Virginia DEQ submits the annual Toxics Reduction in State Waters (TRISWat) Report to the Governor and General Assembly of the Commonwealth in accordance with Virginia Code § 62.1 - 44.17:3.

The primary objective of the TRISWat Report is to document the State's commitment to improving water quality. This commitment includes:

1. The prevention of contamination of the Commonwealth's waters by toxics,
2. The continued monitoring of the those waters for the presence of toxics and
3. The implementation of remedial measures to reduce and/or eliminate toxics found in the state's waters.

This report serves to keep the members of the General Assembly informed of the on-going efforts to achieve these objectives and, as a public document, provides the general population with objective, summarized information not readily available from other sources.

Monitoring: DEQ has revised, updated and expanded its Water Quality Monitoring Strategy to include adaptations and new EPA guidelines developed since 2000. After integrating a number of suggestions received from EPA in April 2004, a revised draft was made available for public comment in August. The final draft was submitted to EPA on 27 September 2004. EPA has since indicated that it has no additional comments or suggestions, and the Strategy is now considered adopted and in effect until the next scheduled revision in 2007-2008.

The spring and summer of 2004 comprised the forth year of DEQ’s freshwater probabilistic monitoring (ProbMon). An EPA grant provided for fifty semi-permeable membrane devices that were utilized for monitoring dissolved toxic organic compounds at probabilistic sites across the state during calendar year 2003. The USGS is currently analyzing the samples and the final report is due in February 2005. Results should be included in next year’s TRISWat report. Sampling for dissolved trace metals, as well as sediment metals and organics, has continued at both freshwater and estuarine ProbMon sites. The results of this sampling for MY2004 are included in this report. Results from summer sampling (June-September) in 2004 will be included in next year’s report.

Permitting: DEQ’s Toxics Management Program (TMP) currently includes 279 facilities and 743 outfalls that have active permit-defined toxics limits in their effluents, and 42 new applications, in the CEDS database. The CEDS database now records Discharge Monitoring Reports (DMRs) on a monthly basis.

Toxics Release Inventory (TRI): The most recent Virginia Toxic Release Inventory Report (2002 VIRGINIA TOXICS RELEASE INVENTORY (TRI) REPORT - March 2004) indicated that 505 Virginia facilities reported to the TRI program for the 2002 activity year. Statewide toxic releases to the water totaled approximately 8,262,380 million pounds or 11.6 % of the total onsite releases to all media during 2002. This quantity (~8.3 million lbs.) represents a 2 % increase from 2001 releases.

Pollution Prevention: Among the highlights of Pollution Prevention successes in the past year were the following:

• The total number of facilities in the Virginia Environmental Excellence Program (VEEP) increased from 152 to over 200, an increase of approximately 33% in 2004, with 80% participating at the E2 level.

• DEQ’s Pollution Prevention in Healthcare Program (Hospitals for a Health Environment) continued to promote the reduction of regulated medical wastes, to reduce toxic materials by encouraging environmentally preferable purchasing practices, and to eliminate mercury from health care purchases.

• Participants in the Businesses for the Bay (B4B) Program reported 167,700 tons of waste reduction and cost savings of $13.4 million. In 2004, Virginia facilities once again led the region in participation: approximately one-half of all members (279 out of 603) are in Virginia, almost twice as many as the next closest state.

• In 2003, OPP applied for and received approximately $6,500 in funding from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop a single, comprehensive website for information on renewable energy and energy efficiency.

• DEQ administers Virginia’s National Partnership for Environmental Priorities (NPEP) program, previously called the National Waste Minimization Program, which was renamed and re-energized in 2004. The NPEP program encourages public and private organizations to form voluntary partnerships, with states and the EPA, that reduce the use or release of any of the thirty-one substances that have been designated “Priority Chemicals”.