Environment

The environmental program of the TJPDC focuses primarily on regional issues, which have included sustainability, water resources, and solid waste. Much work has centered on the Rivanna River watershed, which comprises major portions of four of the PDC's six localities and is 95% contained within the planning district. This work began with and has built upon the TJPDC-sponsored Rivanna River Basin Roundtable and their seminal State of the Basin: 1998 report. Assistance with environmental planning for our localities is also offered and has resulted in such products as the Nelson County Wellhead Protection and Water Resources in Fluvanna County reports.

Piedmont Regional Watershed Implementation Planning Project

TJPDC working with the Rivanna River Basin Commission (RRBC) and other stakeholders has completed the Piedmont Region Watershed Implementation Planning Project. The National Fish and Wildlife funded project was a two year project that engaged local governments in the Planning District to assist with data collection and input of stormwater data to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality for the aggregation into Virginia's Watershed Implementation Plan Phase II. The WIP II developed by Virginia articulates how to implement nutrient and sediment reductions associated with the Chesapeake Bay TMDL at the local government scale. Click here to view the Final Report and Appendix. For questions or printed versions please contact; Wood Hudson at whudson@tjpdc.org

Chesapeake Bay TMDL-Piedmont Regional Pilot Project

TJPDC is working with the Rivanna River Basin Commission (RRBC) and other local stakeholders on a pilot project for the Chesapeake Bay TMDL (Total Maximum Daily Load). A legal settlement in 1999 required the Environmental Protection Agency to either achieve the water quality standards in the Chesapeake Bay by 2010, or impose a “pollution diet” that will reduce pollution to acceptable levels. Since the required water quality standards have not been met, EPA is requiring Bay-area states and the District of Columbia to develop and adopt a Chesapeake Bay TMDL and related Watershed Implementation Plan (WIP).