Water Quality
Good water quality means much more than having clean water to drink and a nice place to swim. Streams, rivers, bays, and coastal estuaries perform a long list of important economic and health functions in Hampton Roads, as well as in Virginia as a whole.
Why is This Important?
Clean water is an important element in industrial and agricultural production and is an essential resource for the fishing and tourism industries. Clean water is a habitat for economically and ecologically important species; it is also necessary for the daily health and hygiene of every citizen of Hampton Roads. Getting clean water often incurs large public and private expenditures. In short, clean water is an essential component of both economic growth and citizen well-being.
How is Hampton Roads Doing?
One of the most telling measures of water quality in the Hampton Roads area is health of the Chesapeake Bay. The quality of the water entering the Chesapeake Bay reflects not only the actions of residents and businesses in Hampton Roads, but also those from across Virginia and surrounding states.
Virginia has agreed to substantially reduce its contribution to the nitrogen, phosphorous, and sediment loads in the bay by 2025 by following strategies outlined in a newly adopted Watershed Implementation Plan. Progress toward this goal is being made; both nitrogen and phosphorous discharges have decreased more than 10 percent since 2002.
| 1985 | 2002 | 2007 | 2009 | Tributary Strategy Goal |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nitrogen | 91,402,633 | 75,707,188 | 69,783,197 | 67,211,928 | 53,401,214 |
| Phosphorous | 11,274,610 | 8,274,522 | 7,612,713 | 7,154,001 | 5,409,492 |
One important factor in Hampton Roads' contribution to the protection of local waterways will come from controlling stormwater runoff. Runoff from urban areas often carries debris and chemicals into nearby waterways; runoff from farms and other rural enterprises can contain fertilizer nutrients, animal waste, and other harmful substances. A combination of careful regulation of runoff, as well as an environmental education initiative -- both currently underway in the region -- can help to control these sources of pollution.
What Influences Water Quality?
Water quality is degraded when toxic chemicals, biological waste, sediment, and excess nutrients (particularly nitrogen and phosphorous) flow into rivers, streams, wetlands, and coastal waters. Pollutants are categorized by their source: point sources, where the water flow has a single known point of origin, such as a discharge pipe; and non-point sources, where pollutants travel with stormwater runoff or groundwater flow from diffuse points. Examples of non-point sources include runoff from farms, septic fields, paved surfaces, and lawns. Water can also be polluted from the air (e.g., acid rain).
Point source discharges and some non-point sources are regulated under federal and state law. However, a significant number of non-point sources fall under voluntary, incentive-based programs, such as those that cost-share the installation of agricultural pollution control practices.
Pollution can be limited at the source either by preventing pollution from the start or by cleaning up the contaminated water before it enters state flows. Control of point-source discharges has proven easier than the control of much larger non-point discharges, which are largely agricultural in origin and managed under voluntary programs.
Data Definitions and Sources
Virginia Department of Environmental Quality
Chesapeake Bay TMDL Phase I Watershed Implementation Plan
See the Data Sources and Updates Calendar for a detailed list of the data resources used for indicator measures on Hampton Roads Performs.
