Key sections of the report
Approved on May 19, 2016
The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) released the Final 2014 305(b)/303(d) Water Quality Assessment Integrated Report (Integrated Report) on June 13, 2016. The 2014 Integrated Report is a summary of the water quality conditions in Virginia from January 1, 2007, through December 31, 2012. The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality develops and submits this report to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency every even-numbered year.
The report satisfies the requirements of the U.S. Clean Water Act sections 305(b) and 303(d) and the Virginia Water Quality Monitoring, Information and Restoration Act. The goals of Virginia's water quality assessment program are to determine whether waters meet water quality standards, and to establish a schedule to restore waters with impaired water quality.
Water quality standards designate uses for waters. There are six designated uses for surface waters in Virginia:
- aquatic life
- fish consumption
- public water supplies (where applicable)
- recreation (swimming)
- shellfishing
- wildlife
Additionally, several subcategories of aquatic life use have been adopted for the Chesapeake Bay and its tidal tributaries. The standards define the water quality needed to support each of these uses. If a water body contains more contamination than allowed by water quality standards, it will not support one or more of its designated uses. Such waters have "impaired" water quality. In most cases, a cleanup plan (called a "total maximum daily load") must be developed and implemented to restore impaired waters.
The Draft Integrated Report was released on December 15, 2014 and made available for public comment through January 30, 2015. Comments were received from the public and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In response to comments, the report was revised and resubmitted to EPA on September 8, 2015 and approved on May 19, 2016. The Public Comments and Response document contains comments received on the draft report and DEQ’s responses.
The Summary Presentation of the Final 2014 Water Quality Assessment contains statistics revised since it was given at the webinar on January 8, 2015. The questions posed at the webinar were compiled and are addressed in the FAQ document.
Copies of the final report, public comments and responses, revised summary presentation, GIS data and associated maps can be ordered on CD at no charge by sending an email request.
The entire Final 2014 305(b)/303(d) Water Quality Assessment Integrated Report is a 78.6 MB file that you may save to your computer or you may scroll down to view and download the smaller individual components of the report.
All chapters of the report and the supplemental files are PDF documents. Please visit DEQ’s help page if you are unable to view these documents.
Table of Contents
List of Tables and Figures
Acknowledgements
Executive Summary
Chapter 1 Introduction
Chapter 2 State Background Information
Chapter 3 Surface Water Monitoring Programs
Chapter 4 Surface Water Quality Assessment
Chapter 4.1 Assessment Methodology
Chapter 4.2 Statewide Water Quality Assessment Summary
Chapter 4.3 Individual River Basin Assessment Results
Chapter 4.4 Freshwater Probabilistic Monitoring Results
Chapter 4.5 Estuarine Probabilistic Monitoring Results
Chapter 4.6 Chesapeake Bay Assessment Results
Chapter 5 Non-Point Source Assessment
Chapter 6 Ground Water Programs Assessment
Chapter 7 Water Quality Programs
Chapter 7.1 Water Pollution Control Programs (VPDES and TMDLs)
Chapter 7.2 Cost/Benefit Associated with Construction Assistance Program
Chapter 7.3 Pollution Prevention Programs
Chapter 7.4 Public Health/Aquatic Life Concerns
Chapter 7.5 Coastal Resources Management Program Initiatives
Chapter 7.6 Chesapeake Bay Program Initiatives
Chapter 7.7 Wetlands Program Initiatives
Chapter 7.8 Regional Water Quality Initiatives
Appendices:
Appendix 1 Integrated List of All Waters in Virginia
1a List of Category 5 Impaired Waters (303(d) List)
1b Supplemental List of Category 5 Waters Newly Impaired in 2014 (303(d) List)
1c List of Category 4A Impaired Waters
1d List of Category 4C Impaired Waters
Appendix 2 Water Quality Based Limited Sources - Category 4B and 5E Waters
2a Category 4B and 5E Waters Identified for Delisting since the 2012 Report
Appendix 3 Waters Identified for Delisting since the 2012 Report
Appendix 4 Waters Delisted Due to Removal of Designated Use
Appendix 5 Fact Sheets for Category 5 Waters (all basins)
Chesapeake Bay, Atlantic Ocean and Small Coastal Basin
Chowan River and Dismal Swamp Basin
James River Basin
New River Basin
Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers Basin
Rappahannock River Basin
Roanoke and Yadkin Rivers Basin
Tennessee and Big Sandy Rivers Basin
York River Basin
Appendix 6 Clean Water Act References
Appendix 7 List of Significant Lakes
Appendix 8 Data Sets Considered for the 2014 Assessment
Appendix 9 Current Status of TMDL Development in Virginia
Appendix 10 Assessment Monitoring Station Key (Stations provided by basin below)
Chesapeake Bay, Atlantic Ocean and Small Coastal Basin
Chowan River and Dismal Swamp Basin
James River Basin-Lower
James River Basin-Middle
James River Basin-Upper
New River Basin
Potomac River Basin
Rappahannock River Basin
Roanoke and Yadkin Rivers Basin
Shenandoah River Basin
Tennessee and Big Sandy Rivers Basin
York River Basin
Appendix 11 Background to Estuarine ProbMon Chapter
STATEWIDE, BASIN and CHESAPEAKE BAY MAPS - Electronic versions of the assessment maps are available for download/viewing. Each map is a PDF between 1 MB and 6 MB formatted to fit on an 11x17 page except for the Chesapeake Bay maps which are 8.5x11. For more detailed information on impaired waters identified on these maps, please use the Virginia Environmental Geographic Information Systems (VEGIS) application.
STATEWIDE MAPS:
DEQ Regional Offices
Virginia's 6th Order Watersheds
Assessment Regions per 6th Order Watershed
Watersheds with Assessed Use(s) 2002-2014
Virginia's Section 303(d) Waters
Distribution of Impaired Waters
Waters Impaired for Fish Consumption
Bacteria Impairments
Dissolved Oxygen Impairments
Benthic Impairments
TMDL Completion Status
Water Quality Restoration Progress
Shellfishing Designated Use Support Status
BASIN MAPS:
Chesapeake Bay/Atlantic Ocean and Small Coastal Basin
Chowan River and Dismal Swamp Basin
Lower James River Basin
Middle James River Basin
Upper James River Basin
New River Basin
Potomac River Basin
Rappahannock Basin
Roanoke and Yadkin Rivers Basin
Shenandoah River Basin
Tennessee and Big Sandy Rivers Basin
York River Basin
CHESAPEAKE BAY MAPS:
Summary of All Impairment Causes in Virginia's Bay Waters
Shallow Water-Submerged Aquatic Vegetation Assessment
Open Water Dissolved Oxygen Criteria Assessment
Deep Water and Deep Channel D.O. Assessment
Benthic Index of Biological Integrity Assessment
James River Chlorophyll a Criteria Assessment
Attention GIS users:
The GIS data used in the production of the Integrated Report is available for download as well as on CD along with the Final EPA approved Integrated Report, maps, presentations, comments and a link to free GIS software. Please note that you must have suitable GIS software to view this data. For more information or to obtain a copy of the CD please contact Cleo Baker.
Interactive Mapping:
Virginia Environmental Geographic Information Systems (VEGIS) - The impaired waters identified in this report can be viewed using DEQ's online GIS application which allows users to zoom to an area of interest and retrieve assessment information for specific waters.
Additional Information:
To obtain reports from previous assessment cycles, please contact Cleo Baker or Tish Robertson.
The Final 2014 305(b)/303(d) Water Quality Assessment Guidance Manual, released April 21, 2014, is also available for download.