Bill Text: VA HJR587 | 2015 | Regular Session | Enrolled

Virginia House Joint Resolution 587 (Prior Session Legislation)

Bill Title: Stormwater regulations; impact on high water table area, report.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2015-02-25 - Bill text as passed House and Senate (HJ587ER) [HJR587 Detail]

Download: Virginia-2015-HJR587-Enrolled.html

HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 587 ) Requesting the Department of Environmental Quality to study the application of the postdevelopment stormwater management technical criteria, as established in the Virginia Stormwater Management Program Regulations, in areas with a seasonal high groundwater table. Report.

Agreed to by the House of Delegates, February 9, 2015 Agreed to by the Senate, February 24, 2015

WHEREAS, the Commonwealth has adopted a comprehensive stormwater management program to protect the Commonwealth's surface waters, including the Chesapeake Bay, from the negative impacts of stormwater pollutants, including excess nutrients and sediment, being washed from developed sites during storm events; and

WHEREAS, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality administers the Commonwealth's stormwater management program in accordance with the Stormwater Management Act (§62.1-44.15:24 et seq. of the Code of Virginia) and attendant regulations (9VAC25-870); and

WHEREAS, a seasonal high groundwater table in some areas of the Commonwealth can hinder the use of best management practices (BMPs) that can be employed in other parts of the Commonwealth to control the quantity of stormwater leaving a developed site; and

WHEREAS, the Department of Environmental Quality is best positioned to study this issue and to make recommendations to achieve greater flexibility in applying the water quantity requirements of the Stormwater Management Act and attendant regulations in areas with a seasonal high groundwater table while protecting the Commonwealth's surface waters; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the Department of Environmental Quality be requested to study the application of the postdevelopment stormwater management technical criteria, as established in the Virginia Stormwater Management Program Regulations, in areas with a seasonal high groundwater table.

In conducting its study, the Department of Environmental Quality shall evaluate the existing BMP design specifications on the Virginia Stormwater BMP Clearinghouse and recommend design specification revisions to allow the effective use of these BMPs in areas with a seasonal high groundwater table, if applicable, to achieve greater flexibility in meeting the stormwater management requirements in those areas.

All agencies of the Commonwealth shall provide assistance to the Department of Environmental Quality for this study, upon request.

The Department of Environmental Quality shall complete its meetings for the first year by November 30, 2015, and for the second year by November 30, 2016, and the Director shall submit to the Governor and the General Assembly an executive summary and report of its findings and recommendations for publication as a House or Senate document for each year. The executive summaries and reports shall be submitted as provided in the procedures of the Division of Legislative Automated Systems for the processing of legislative documents and reports no later than the first day of the next Regular Session of the General Assembly and shall be posted on the General Assembly's website.