Lynnhaven River Points the Way to a Clean Bay

 
Virginia’s Lynnhaven River is Exhibit A for putting a comprehensive Chesapeake Bay cleanup plan into action and reaping big dividends.

The Lynnhaven, nestled near the mouth of the Bay in Virginia Beach, for centuries produced some of the  tastiest oysters in the world. But in recent decades, the river became so tainted by polluted runoff that   the Virginia Department of Health closed virtually the entire river to commercial shellfishing due to excessive bacteria in the water.

Enter the 2006 Lynnhaven TMDL (total maximum daily load), a pollution cleanup plan devised by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality as required by the federal Clean Water Act and Virginia law. The plan initially focused on reducing bacteria from sources people can control – boats, septic tanks, street runoff, and pet waste.

It also required a widespread effort, which the community has embraced:

• The City Virginia Beach is actively retrofitting stormwater outfalls that empty into the Lynnhaven, plugging leaks in sewer lines, and gradually reducing the number of septic tanks in the watershed.
• The river has been declared a “No Discharge Zone,” making it illegal for boats to dump waste into the water, and marinas now provide pump-out facilities for boaters.
• Lynnhaven River Now, a local watershed advocacy group, promotes community awareness programs such as “Scoop the Poop” and “Don’t Feed the Ducks and Geese.”
• The Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) has joined with many federal, state, and private partners to restore oysters, a natural water filter, to the Lynnhaven.

The result? Today, 38 percent of the river is clean enough to be open to commercial shellfishing. The river’s oyster population has increased tenfold, and oyster aquaculture and oyster gardening is thriving. World-famous Lynnhaven oysters are once again back on restaurant menus.

The restoration of the Lynnhaven is far from complete, but it shows how a bold and aggressive TMDL cleanup plan can produce dramatic results. What’s happening in the Lynnhaven can and must be duplicated in rivers across Virginia and the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

To ensure it does, tell Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and the Environmental Protection Agency that Virginia needs a strong, credible plan to clean up state rivers and the Bay. To send a letter, go to cbf.org/sendaletter.

Dirty water kills fish, crabs, and jobs. Clean water is the right of all citizens. Demand it.

By Chuck Epes