Government leaders across central Virginia are learning more about Virginia's Stormwater Management Program and what they need to do to get ready for the plan to get underway.
Members of the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) presented the plans in hopes of best preparing officials to keep stormwater run off to a minimum. When development occurs, stormwater runs off roofs, and pavement, which impacts the quality of water that eventually ends up in streams throughout central Virginia.
Wednesday representatives from Albemarle, Charlottesville, Fluvanna, Louisa, and Orange met at the Water Street Center to learn about stormwater regulations that they will have to administer for development projects over one acre. That includes how to control pollutants before they get into our streams. Officials also got a lesson in their new systems as well.
Alyson Sappington of the Thomas Jefferson Soil and Water Conservation District said, "There's a whole new internet site where permits will be done through the internet that goes from the locality to DCR. There are new checklists, new technical criteria that the counties will have to implement."
The program aims to boost water quality by educating these leaders. These new regulations are already in effect but they will not be officially implemented in central Virginia until July 2014.
