RD50 - Annual Report on the Reduction and Monitoring of Toxics in State 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 fall of 2006, to incorporate several minor modifications in monitoring schedules and additional water quality criteria and assessment procedures that have evolved in the interim. The revised Strategy is expected to be implemented in January 2007.

Summer (July-September) 2004 comprised the fifth year of DEQ’s estuarine probabilistic monitoring and the spring and summer of 2005 comprised the fifth 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 2005 are included in this report. Results from summer (July-September) sampling in 2005 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, chemistry, toxicity and benthic taxonomic results from the probabilistic ‘National Coastal Assessment Program’ sediment sampling will be used for a toxics-related “Weight-of-Evidence” assessment of aquatic life use in estuarine waters. This will complement the newly developed Benthic Index of Biological Integrity (B-IBI) assessment performed within the Chesapeake Bay Program’s benthic probabilistic monitoring program.

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 which are already the focus of TMDL-related special studies. Water column monitoring of toxic organic contaminants using Semipermeable Membrane Devices (SPMDs) reveals the same pattern, except in the case of human health criteria for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) that reflects the cosmopolitan distribution already revealed by fish consumption advisories. Further analyses of freshwater probabilistic monitoring results have revealed that of 20 priority organics with established water quality standards, the concentrations of nine were significantly correlated with the degree of urban development in the associated watersheds, even at low concentrations. No such trends were identified for agricultural or forest land use patterns. More detailed, geographically specific conclusions about toxics-related water quality concerns will be presented in the 2006 Integrated 305(b)/303(d) Water Quality Assessment Report and will be summarized in the 2006 Toxics Reduction Report.

Permitting: DEQ’s Toxics Management Program (TMP) currently includes 353 facilities/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 will begin accepting the electronic submission of DMRs (e-DMRs) late in 2005. This will improve 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 (2003 VIRGINIA TOXICS RELEASE INVENTORY (TRI) REPORT - March 2005) indicated that 501 Virginia facilities reported to the TRI program for the 2003 activity year. Statewide toxic releases to the water totaled approximately 8,199,535 pounds or 12.7% of the total onsite releases to all media during 2003. This quantity (~8.2 million lbs.) represents a 1% decrease from 2002 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) now exceeds 200, with 145 (almost ¾) at the E2 level, 52 at the E3 level and 8 at the E4 level.
• DEQ’s Voluntary Mercury Reduction Initiatives included:

1. Fluorescent Lamp Recycling Pilot Project – combined eventual recycling of the approximately 2,000,000 fluorescent lamps in use would be equivalent to 44 pounds of mercury.
2. “Virginia Switch Out” Pilot Project for the recycling of automotive mercury switches – by the end of October 2005 more than 5,000 switches were collected, eliminating more than 15 pounds of mercury that could have been vaporized with the melting of auto bodies for recycled steel.

• DEQ’s Pollution Prevention in Healthcare Program (Hospitals for a Healthy 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. Participation in the program grew to 87 facilities.
• Participants in the Businesses for the Bay (B4B) Program reported 115 million pounds of waste reduction and cost savings of $3.8 million due to pollution prevention efforts. Virginia facilities make up over 40% of the participating facilities (302) and program mentors (54).
• 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”. Milestones for 2005 included:

1. Significant reduction (400 gal/yr) in the use of Methyl Ethyl Ketone as a solvent (Flowserve Corp.),
2. Commitment to significant reduction in the use of other volatile organic compounds (25%) and hazardous waste generation (50% - Flowserve Corp.),
3. Significant reduction in lead waste (over 400,000 lbs), and reduction (50%) of the use of lead in solder (General Electric),
4. Replacement of mercury-containing sphygmomanometers (blood pressure meters) – elimination of 41 lbs of mercury (Sentara Williamsburg Community Hospital), and
5. Recycling of automotive mercury light switch assemblies (960 grams of mercury) and lead from battery terminals (240 lbs. of lead – Virginia Auto Recyclers).