Waynesboro Receives Federal Money to Improve Water Quality - NBC29 WVIR Charlottesville, VA News, Sports and Weather

Federal money will help Waynesboro improve water quality in the South River and the Chesapeake Bay downstream.  

The $164,000 grant goes toward stream-bank restoration projects at Ridgeview Park and the unnamed "pocket park" along Wayne Avenue.     

A new buffer of plants will help filter stormwater.  The river's edge will be more gradually sloped to reduce erosion, while giving visitors easier access.  And runoff from the parking lot at Ridgeview will no longer flow straight into the river.    

Waynesboro City Engineer Trafford McRaesaid, "One thing that has been lost in a lot of the discussion about the Chesapeake Bay is that local waters are also impaired. The South River has sediment and bacteria and nitrogen and phosphorous."

Waynesboro is already monitoring pollutant levels in the river, as part of the project.  Surveying begins this fall and earth moving will follow next summer.