Virginia Administrative Code › Title 9 - ENVIRONMENT › Agency 25 - STATE WATER CONTROL BOARD › Chapter 380 - WETLANDS POLICY › Section 9VAC25-380-20 - The wetland resource

Current through Register Vol. 40, No. 24, July 15, 2024
A.
				Wetlands represent an ecosystem of unique and major importance to the citizens
				of this Commonwealth and, as a result, they require extraordinary protection.
				Comparable destructive forces would be expected to inflict more lasting damage
				to them than to other ecosystems. The Constitution of Virginia establishes a
				strong policy of natural resource protection. The General Assembly has
				recognized the importance of wetlands in its policy set forth in Title 28.2,
				Chapter 13 of the Code of Virginia and, the General Assembly has provided in
				Title 62.1, Chapter 3.1 of the Code of Virginia (The State Water Control Law)
				that it is the policy of the Commonwealth to protect existing high quality
				state waters and restore all other state waters to such condition of quality
				that any such waters will support the propagation and growth of all aquatic
				life which might reasonably be expected to inhabit them. Through this policy
				statement, the board establishes appropriate safeguards for the preservation
				and protection of the wetland resource from the damage caused by inappropriate
				discharges to the waters of the state which wash over the wetlands.
B. The wetlands of the Commonwealth,
				including marshes, swamps, bogs, and other low-lying areas, which during some
				period of the year will be covered in part by natural non-flood waters, are a
				unique, valuable, and irreplaceable natural resource. They serve as a habitat
				for important fur-bearing mammals, many species of fish, and waterfowl. Such
				areas moderate extremes in water flow, aid in the natural purification of
				water, and maintain and recharge the groundwater resource. They are the nursery
				areas for a great number of wildlife and aquatic species of significant
				commercial and recreational value to the citizens of the Commonwealth, and
				serve at times as the source of valuable harvestable timber. They are unique
				recreational areas, high in aesthetic value, that contain delicate and
				irreplaceable specimens of fauna and flora and support fishing, as well as
				wildfowl and other hunting.
C.
				Fresh water wetlands support the adjacent or downstream aquatic ecosystem in
				addition to the complex web of life that has developed within the wetland
				environment. The relationship of the fresh water wetland to the subsurface
				environment is symbiotic, intricate, and fragile. In the tidal wetland areas
				the tides tend to redistribute the nutrients and sediments throughout the tidal
				marsh and these in turn form a substrate for the life supported by the tidal
				marsh. These marshes produce large quantities of plant life that are the source
				of much of the organic matter consumed by shellfish and other aquatic life in
				associated estuaries.
D. Protection
				of wetland areas requires the proper control of any construction activities and
				of non-point sources to prevent discharges which will impair the quality of the
				wetland area. Alteration in quantity or quality of the natural flow of water,
				which nourishes the ecosystem, should be minimized. The addition of harmful
				waste waters or nutrients contained in such waters should be kept below a level
				that will alter the natural, physical, chemical, or biological integrity of the
				wetland areas and that will ensure no significant increase in nuisance
				organisms through biostimulation.
Statutory Authority
§§ 62.1-44.15(10) and 62.1-44.36 of the Code of
					 Virginia.