This page lists links for water quality in Virginia that fall under the Safe Drinking Water Act (drinking water) and the Clean Water Act. Water quality responsibilities run across many state and federal agencies. For example, the primacy agency for drinking water is the Virginia Department of Health. However, the State Water Control Board resides in the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). Federal agencies with responsibilities include the Environmental Protection Agency, Corps of Engineers, and the Uniteds States Geologic Survey.
Office of Drinking Water
The Virginia Department of Health's (VDH) Office of Drinking Water (ODW) is responsible for protecting the health of consumers of drinking water provided by public waterworks by ensuring that the drinking water is safe. VDH is the primacy agency for the Safe Drinking Water Act.
If you need technical assistance on matters involving drinking water, the Safe Drinking Water Act, cross connection control, or classification of waterworks, contact one of the many professionals at the Virginia Department of Health. They're friendly and don't bite (well normally, there was that time in '63 that took 13 stitches...) and if for some strange reason don't have the answer, they will point you in the right direction.
Additonally, if you have a specific topic regarding the quality of drinking water, visit our drinking water links page.
DEQ administers the federal Clean Water Act and enforces state laws to improve the quality of Virginia's streams, rivers, bays and ground water for aquatic life, human health and other water uses. Permits are issued to businesses, industries, local governments and individuals that take into account physical, chemical and biological standards for water quality.
Virginia's Department of Conservation and Recreation coordinates and directs programs and services to prevent degradation of the Commonwealth's water quality and quantity. Most DCR soil and water conservation efforts are devoted to controlling nonpoint source pollution. In fact, DCR is the state's lead agency for developing and implementing statewide nonpoint source pollution control programs and services.
The VDOF plays a significant role in maintaining water quality in Virginia. VDOFactivities include:
- Inspecting timber harvest sites to ensure that sediment isn't eroding into streams and waterways
Inspect timber harvest sites
Ensuring water quality is a major activity of the VDOF. Soil disturbed on a timber harvest site can add sediment to streams; our water quality inspections of logging sites assist loggers in following environmentally safe practices to keep streams free of these sediments. If loggers do not follow "best management practices" on harvest sites, sediment deposition may occur, and that can cause them to face civil penalties under the Silvicultural Water Quality Law.
Monitor streams and conduct audits
In Virginia, loggers are required to protect water quality, and the VDOF developed Best Management Practices (BMPs) as guidelines for proper timber harvesting for Virginia's loggers. To ensure voluntary compliance with these guidelines, the VDOF began conducting Best Management Practice Field Audits in 1993. Conducted four times a year, the field audits provide a useful tool in gauging the status of Virginia's water quality protection efforts.
Help landowners conserve water and ensure water quality
* Wooded buffer zones along streams, rivers, and the Bay can be classified as riparian forests.
Water Quality
