RD384 - 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 Commonwealth’s progress toward reducing toxics in state waters and improving water quality. This commitment includes:

1. The prevention of contamination of the Commonwealth’s waters by toxics,
2. The continued monitoring of those waters for the presence of toxics and
3. The implementation of remedial measures to reduce and/or eliminate toxics found in the Commonwealth’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 public with objective, concise, easily assimilated information on toxics not readily available from other sources.

Monitoring: In 2004 DEQ revised, updated and expanded its Water Quality Monitoring Strategy to include modifications in design, adoption of new monitoring technologies, and new EPA guidelines developed since 2000. After integrating a number of suggestions received from EPA in April of 2004, a revised draft was made available for public comment in August. The final draft was submitted to EPA in September 2004. EPA subsequently indicated that the Strategy was acceptable in its revised form, and DEQ has applied its principles since the fall of 2004. The agency intends to submit an updated Strategy revision to EPA in the spring of 2007, to incorporate several minor modifications in monitoring schedules and additional water quality criteria and assessment procedures that have evolved in the interim. Tentative implementation of the revised Strategy will be initiated in January 2007.

Summer (July-September) 2006 comprised the seventh year of DEQ’s estuarine probabilistic monitoring and the spring and summer of 2006 comprised the sixth year of its freshwater probabilistic monitoring (ProbMon). Sampling for dissolved trace metals, as well as sediment metals and organics, has continued at both freshwater and estuarine ProbMon sites. The results of spring (March-June) freshwater probabilistic sampling for Monitoring Year 2006 are included in this report. Results from summer (July-September) sampling in 2006 will be included in next year’s report.

The results from summer 2003 Semi-Permeable Membrane Device (SPMD) sampling of dissolved organic contaminants at freshwater probabilistic sites are now available on DEQ’s WebPages and are partially summarized in this Toxics Reduction Report. The success of this SPMD study and declining costs for SPMD analyses have prompted the agency to apply SPMD sampling technology in a number of PCB-related special studies.

Beginning with the 2006 Integrated 305(b)/303(d) Report, sediment chemistry, sediment toxicity and benthic taxonomic results from DEQ’s Estuarine Probabilistic Monitoring Program were used for a toxics-related “Weight-of-Evidence” assessment of aquatic life use in estuarine waters. These results, primarily from minor tidal tributaries, complement those from the Chesapeake Bay Program’s benthic probabilistic monitoring program, which emphasizes the mainstems of major tidal tributaries and the Bay itself.

General characterizations based on probabilistic toxics monitoring have revealed that statewide concentrations of priority toxicants (metals and organics) in sediment are generally well below established sediment screening criteria, except in previously identified hotspots that are already the focus of TMDL-related special studies. Water column monitoring of toxic organic contaminants using Semipermeable Membrane Devices (SPMDs) has revealed the same pattern. The maximum observed concentrations of most dissolved hydrophobic organic compounds were orders of magnitude below human health criteria. The single exception was for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), reflecting the cosmopolitan distribution already revealed by fish consumption advisories. Further analyses of freshwater probabilistic monitoring results in 2005 revealed that, even at low concentrations, the measured values for nine of the 20 priority organics with established water quality standards were significantly correlated with the degree of urban development in the associated watersheds. No such trends were identified for agricultural or forest land use patterns. More detailed, geographically specific conclusions about toxics-related water quality concerns were presented in the 2006 Integrated 305(b)/303(d) Water Quality Assessment Report.

Permitting: DEQ’s Toxics Management Program (TMP) currently includes 300 facilities with 738 outfalls that have active permit-defined toxics limits in their effluents in DEQ’s Comprehensive Environmental Data System (CEDS) database. The CEDS database now records Discharge Monitoring Reports (DMRs) on a monthly basis, and began accepting the electronic submission of DMRs (e-DMRs) in May of 2006. There is a link to enroll in e-DMR at the DEQ internet site. This has improved cost-effectiveness by streamlining reporting methods and reducing resource requirements for managing paper-based DMR reports. It will also improve accuracy by eliminating the potential introduction of errors resulting from manual database entry, and will improve over-all effectiveness with faster and more accurate response to data analysis, compliance assessment and decision-making.
 
Toxics Release Inventory (TRI): The most recent Virginia Toxic Release Inventory Report (2004 VIRGINIA TOXICS RELEASE INVENTORY (TRI) REPORT - March 2006) indicated that 477 Virginia facilities reported to the TRI program for the 2004 activity year. Statewide toxic releases to the water totaled approximately 9,146,470 pounds or 14.6% of the total onsite releases to all media during 2004. This quantity (~9.15 million lbs.) represents an 11.5 % increase from the 8,199,535 pounds released in 2003.

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

• The total number of participants in the Virginia Environmental Excellence Program (VEEP) has now
exceeded 375 facilities, with 250 at the E2 (Environmental Enterprise) level, 79 at the E3 (Exemplary
Environmental Enterprise) level and 16 at the E4 (Extraordinary Environmental Enterprise) level. A
review of VEEP annual performance for 2005 reported elimination of the use of 53,000 lbs. and the
elimination or recycling of 7450 lbs. of hazardous waste. In 2006 VEEP facilities earned over $72,000
in permit fee discounts by implementing and performing their Environmental Management Plans.

• DEQ’s Voluntary Mercury Reduction Initiatives have been successful. As a result of the “Virginia Switch Out” Pilot Project for the recycling of automotive mercury switches, initiated in 2005, legislation was enacted in 2006 requiring the removal of mercury switches from end-of-life motor vehicles prior to their demolition. End of Life Vehicle Solutions (ELVS), an organization created by automotive manufacturers, has distributed collection containers for mercury switches throughout the state and is already receiving recycled switches from automotive demolition facilities.

• DEQ’s Pollution Prevention in Healthcare Program and its participants received a number of awards and recognition from the national program. Participants reported the reduction of over 1000 lbs of mercury as well as 500 tons of solid waste.

• Of the 850 members (735 participants and 125 mentors) of the Businesses for the Bay (B4B) Program, forty percent are in Virginia. In 2006 they reported approximately 115 million pounds of waste reduction and cost savings of $3.8 million due to pollution prevention efforts. Virginia’s participants earned eleven B4B Excellence Awards in 2006, more than half of the total awarded.

• Virginia’s National Partnership for Environmental Priorities (NPEP) program was renamed and re-energized in 2004. Milestones for 2006 included the eliminating the use of 32 lbs. of mercury and 4,800 lbs. of lead.