Virginia Administrative Code › Title 9 - ENVIRONMENT › Agency 25 - STATE WATER CONTROL BOARD › Chapter 260 - WATER QUALITY STANDARDS › Part VI - Procedural Requirements › Section 9VAC25-260-275 - Protection of Eastern Shore tidal waters for clams and oysters

Current through Register Vol. 40, No. 24, July 15, 2024
A. This section
				  applies to applications for individual Virginia Pollutant Discharge Elimination
				  System (VPDES) permits authorizing new or expanded discharges to or otherwise
				  affecting Eastern Shore tidal waters, which include all tidal rivers and creeks
				  on the Eastern Shore (Accomack and Northampton counties) including the tidal
				  waters within the barrier islands on the eastern seaside of the Eastern Shore
				  (does not include Atlantic Ocean waters) and all tidal rivers and creeks on the
				  western bayside and including the Chesapeake Bay to a point one mile offshore
				  from any point of land on the Eastern Shore.
B. When such application proposes a new or
				  expanded discharge that would not be denied pursuant to
				  9VAC25-260-270 but would result in
				  shellfish water condemnation, then the application shall be amended to contain
				  an analysis of wastewater management alternatives to the proposed discharge. An
				  application shall be deemed incomplete until this analysis is provided to the
				  department.
C. For purposes of this
				  part, condemnation shall mean a reclassification of shellfish waters by the
				  state Department of Health to prohibited or restricted (as defined by the U.S.
				  Food and Drug Administration, National Shellfish Sanitation Program, Guide for
				  the Control of Molluscan Shellfish, 2007, Section II, Model Ordinance,
				  Definitions, and Chapter 4, Classification of Shellfish Growing Areas) thereby
				  signifying that shellfish from such waters are unfit for market.
D. The alternatives analysis shall first
				  identify and describe the technical feasibility of each wastewater management
				  alternative to the proposed new or expanded discharge. If the analysis
				  demonstrates that any of the identified alternatives are technically feasible,
				  then the analysis shall further describe the environmental, social and economic
				  impacts and opportunities to mitigate any adverse impacts for those
				  alternatives.
E. If the
				  alternatives analysis demonstrates that the proposed new or expanded discharge
				  is the only technically feasible alternative or produces the least
				  environmental impact of all the technically feasible alternatives, the
				  application will be processed in accordance with 9VAC25-31 (VPDES Permit
				  Regulation). If the analysis demonstrates that a technically feasible
				  alternative produces less of an environmental impact than that associated with
				  the proposed new or expanded discharge but results in significant adverse
				  social and economic impacts to beneficial uses and to the locality and its
				  citizens, the application shall be processed in accordance with
				  9VAC25-31
.
If the analysis demonstrates that a technically
				  feasible alternative produces less of an environmental impact than that
				  associated with the proposed new or expanded discharge and does not result in
				  significant adverse social and economic impacts to beneficial uses and to the
				  locality and its citizens, then processing of the VPDES application shall be
				  suspended while the applicant makes a good faith effort to obtain approval from
				  the appropriate regulatory authorities for the alternative. Processing of the
				  application shall be resumed only if the alternative form of wastewater
				  management is disapproved by the appropriate regulatory authorities.
Statutory Authority
§ 62.1-44.15 of the Code of Virginia; 33 USC §
						1251 et seq.; 40 CFR Part 131.