ELIZABETH RIVER WATERSHED ACTION PLAN

In 1993, the Chesapeake Bay Program identified the Elizabeth River system as a Region of Concern as it is one of the most highly polluted bodies of water in the entire Bay watershed. In March 1995, Commonwealth of Virginia entered into an agreement with the Elizabeth River Project (ERP), a private nonprofit organization, to recommend actions toward an Elizabeth River Regional Action Plan for Toxics Reduction. ERP, a Norfolk-based partnership of citizens, industry, governments, military, and recreational interests, had independently formed to develop an integrated watershed action plan for management of ecological and human health risk. The original eighteen-item Watershed Action Plan was finalized in 1996.

Following several years of successful implementation, the original plan was revised during September 2002 into a streamlined version and contained a more succinct set of action items known as the "Clean 14." Some of the top priority actions include sediment (river bottom) cleanup, restoration of vegetated buffers and wetlands, an increase pollution prevention efforts, pollutant reductions from wet weather, continued water quality monitoring, and education of the public with emphasis on children. Other priority items range from cleaning contaminated uplands to promoting mass transit.

DEQ has been and continues to be a key participant in providing agency resources for monitoring the quality of the Elizabeth River water and its sediment relative to toxic pollutants and their effects. To date, the monitoring program has ranged from 12 to 175 stations.

Results from the period of 1999-2001 have been included in the report entitled "State of the River 2003" by the ERP. One significant conclusion suggests dissolved metals are not a problem throughout the river's water column. However, the Southern Branch has been identified as having a severe problem relative to sediment contamination, the inability to support life on the river bottom, and sediment toxins causing cancer in select fish species. Furthermore, the anti-foulant, Tributyltin (TBT) has also been identified as a problem river wide. Conclusions from monitoring results that precede 1999 can be found in the State of the River 2000 report.

Even though funding has been reduced from original levels, there are continued efforts to monitor the condition of benthic life throughout the river's bottom in addition to measuring TBT concentrations within the water column. Other components of the Elizabeth River monitoring program will once again be implemented when additional funding becomes available and/or appropriate management actions have been implemented to reduce the inputs of toxic pollutants.