1

Water Resources Management- DEQ’s Role in Water Supply -

State Water Commission

October 1, 2002

2

DEQ Programs & Activities

• Water Resource Data Collection

• Virginia Water Protection Permits

• Ground Water Management Act

• Surface Water Management Act

• Water Resource Plans (1984)

• Executive Order 33 (2002)

3

Water Resource Data Collection• 384 Stream gauging stations (DEQ & USGS)

– 165 continuous recording stations (67 DEQ & 98 USGS)

– 230 miscellaneous sites– real-time at 125 gages (32 DEQ & 93 USGS)

(http://water.usgs.gov/realtime.html)

• 267 ground water level collection sites (183 DEQ & 84 USGS)

• Annual Reports from people withdrawing surface and ground water (1982-present)– Withdrawals with average daily > 10,000 gal /day in any month– Ag. Irrigation withdrawals > 1MG in any month

4

Water Resource Dataexcludes any withdrawal less than reporting thresholds

• 1.38 billion gallons per day withdrawn – 87% from surface water

– 11% from ground water

– excludes power generation use (non consumptive)

– non-reporting withdrawals are generally from ground waters ources

5

Withdrawals, 1995-2000

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

8000

9000

1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000

GroundSurface

Source: DEQ 2000 Status of Virginia’s Water Resources (report to Governor Gilmore & General Assembly)

6

Top 15 WithdrawersOWNER NAME SYSTEM CATEGORY TOTAL

WITHDRAWAL(MGD)

VIRGINIA POWER NO ANNA NUCLEAR POWERPLT

NUCLEAR POWER 2048.20

VIRGINIA POWER SURRY NUCLEAR POWERPLANT

NUCLEAR POWER 2026.65

VIRGINIA POWER YORKTOWN FOSSIL POWERPLT

FOSSIL POWER 894.42

VIRGINIA POWER CHESTERFIELD POWERSTATION

FOSSIL POWER 841.93

VIRGINIA POWER CHESAPEAKE ENERGYCENTER

FOSSIL POWER 457.81

POTOMAC ELECTRICPOWER

POTOMAC RIVER GEN STA FOSSIL POWER 384.24

APPALACHIAN POWERCO.

GLEN LYN POWER PLANT FOSSIL POWER 279.05

HONEYWELLINTERNATIONAL

HOPEWELL PLANT MANUFACTURING 125.54

VIRGINIA POWER BREMO BLUFF POWER PLANT FOSSIL POWER 114.73

RICHMOND, CITY OF RICHMOND, CITY PUBLIC WTR SUPPLY 88.16

NEWPORT NEWS, CITY OF NEWPORT NEWS PUBLIC WTR SUPPLY 76.33

FAIRFAX CO. WATERAUTH.

POTOMAC RIVER PUBLIC WTR SUPPLY 75.65

NORFOLK, CITY OF NORFOLK PUBLIC WTR SUPPLY 70.47

HOECHST CELANESE CELCO PLANT MANUFACTURING 61.88

FAIRFAX CO WATERAUTH.

OCCOQUAN PUBLIC WTR SUPPLY 58.69

Source: DEQ 2001 Status of Virginia’s Water Resources (report to Governor Gilmore & General Assembly)

7

Use Categories(8,287 mgd)

0%

0%7%0%

9%

1%

83%

agriculture

irrigation

manufacturing

commercial

mining

public water

power

8

Use Categories Excluding Power Generation

(1427 mgd; excluding 6,860 mgd for Power Generation)

PUBLIC WATER54%

MANUFACTURING39%

AGRICULTURE1%

IRRIGATION2%

COMMERCIAL1%

MINING3%

Source: DEQ 2001 Status of Virginia’s Water Resources (report to Governor Gilmore & General Assembly)

9

Virginia Water Protection Permits

• Required for surface water withdrawals – Limited to activities requiring federal permits

– Reservoirs, power generation facilities, new intake pipes for industrial and municipal withdrawals

• Establish minimum instream flow volumes that must be maintained– Considers needs for fish & wildlife habitat, waste

assimilation capacity, recreation, navigation

10

Ground Water Management Act

• Permits required for withdrawals in Ground Water Management Areas– Eastern Virginia GWMA

– Eastern Shore GWMA

• Permits required for all withdrawals over 300,000 gallons per month

• Permits designed to protect existing uses

• Permits require water conservation and management plans

11

Surface Water Management Act• Requires reductions in withdrawals during

periods of low flow– Reductions can be imposed through permits or voluntary

agreement

• Applies only in declared Surface Water Management Areas

• Declaration of James River Surface Water Management Area is pending– Proposed voluntary agreement was developed by Richmond

and Henrico – Proposed trigger would be 30% of mean annual flow

12

Water Supply Plans (1984)

• Regional plans prepared in accordance with 62.1-44.38– Inventory of existing community public water supply

systems and the safe yield of those systems

– Projections for future needs of public water supplies

– Options and cost estimates for infrastructure needed to meet those demands

– Did not include self-supplied water users (ie, individual domestic wells or industrial users)

– Did not establish preferences between alternatives

13

Executive Order 33 (2002)

E. Authorize the Director of the Department of Environmental Quality to allocate ground water and surface water resources and to restrict any withdrawals bas4ed upon the adequacy of the resource to meet the necessary beneficial uses as set forth in section 62.1-44.36. Such allocations may apply to any withdrawer and shall over-ride any existing authorization to use or withdraw surface water or ground water.