If you manage an agricultural facility in Virginia, you may be required to either report your water withdrawals or obtain a water withdrawal permit, depending on the volume of water withdrawn. This webpage provides resources created for agricultural users to support water withdrawal reporting and water withdrawal permitting processes. 

Annual Water Withdrawal Reporting

Annual water withdrawal reporting in Virginia began in 1982 with the Annual Water Withdrawal Reporting Regulation (9VAC25-200), requiring the reporting of surface or groundwater withdrawals when: 

  • Withdrawals exceed 1 million gallons in a single month for crop irrigation purposes, such as corn, soybeans, nurseries, or sod farms. 
  • Average daily withdrawals exceed 10,000 gallons per day (300,000 gallons per month) for non-irrigation purposes, such as livestock watering, livestock cooling, or facility use. 

A summary of the annual withdrawal reporting process and requirements can be found within the Agricultural Fact Sheet or Agricultural Brochure. You may also review a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) related to water withdrawal reporting for the agricultural community. Additionally, DEQ has developed The Water Estimation Tool for Agricultural Withdrawals which allows agricultural water users to estimate crop and/or livestock water demands. 

For more information on this topic, please visit the Water Withdrawal Reporting webpage. 

Water Withdrawal Permitting

As part of the application materials for a surface water or groundwater withdrawal permit, justification for the amount of water needed is often a challenging requirement in the permitting process. To support agricultural facilities, DEQ has developed The Water Estimation Tool for Agricultural Withdrawals to allow water users to estimate crop and/or livestock water demands. Virginia specific datasets are incorporated by county using crop and livestock specific volumes allowing a user to quickly estimate water demands with limited user provided data necessary to generate an estimate to support application materials. Detailed instructions are included within the tool, please contact DEQ's Office of Water Withdrawal Permitting staff if you need assistance or have questions regarding the use of the estimation tool. 

Surface Water Withdrawal Permitting

A Virginia Water Protection (VWP) Surface Water Withdrawal (SWW) permit may be required when agricultural surface water withdrawals exceed the following: 

  • 1 million gallons in a single month from nontidal waters 
  • 60 million gallons in a single month from tidal waters 

Please reference slide 13 of the Virginia DEQ Permitting Key for further information on if a VWP SWW permit is required. 

For more information on this topic, please visit the Surface Water Withdrawal Permitting webpage. 

Groundwater Withdrawal Permitting

Any withdrawal of groundwater in a designated Groundwater Management Area greater than 300,000 gallons in any month will require a groundwater withdrawal permit unless otherwise excluded under 9VAC25-610-50. This requirement includes groundwater used for agricultural purposes. 

For more information on this topic, please visit the Groundwater Withdrawal Permitting webpage.