Grants will help Va. reduce runoff into Chesapeake Bay

Richmond's Capitol Square -- the grassy hilltop home to the General Assembly, state office buildings and the Executive Mansion -- may be good for sledding, but the situation goes downhill when it comes to preventing polluted stormwater runoff into the James River.

Yesterday, however, federal officials announced an $800,000 grant to help the Capitol retain and reuse its runoff as part of a regional strategy to reduce pollution to the network of rivers and streams that feed the Chesapeake Bay.

Officials at the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation said they will use the money, plus about $1.4 million in matching city and state funding, to create a "green corridor" on the Capitol grounds with new plantings, new paving stones and a water-recycling system.

The Capitol grant is funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and administered by the federal National Fish and Wildlife Foundation through the Chesapeake Bay Stewardship Fund. It is one of 12 awarded to Virginia and the District of Columbia totaling $6.1 million.

The goal is to help keep agricultural wastewater and stormwater runoff from urban and suburban areas within the Chesapeake watershed from making its way to the bay, the health of which is critical to supporting Virginia's fishing and tourism industries.

Protecting the bay is "a critical part not only of our heritage but also of our future," said U.S. Rep. Robert C. Scott, D-3rd, who appeared at a news conference at the Bell Tower in Capitol Square along with Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and federal and state officials.

Said Kaine: "These grants will help us change the way we think about our actions and their impact on our waterways."

The grants awarded to Virginia range from $200,000 to $800,000 and include:

• reducing polluted runoff and sedimentation in the Reedy Creek basin, coinciding with a $1.7 million project by Richmond to restore the lake in Forest Hill Park, which has been choked by sedimentation from Reedy Creek on its way to the James River ($390,000);

• decreasing stormwater pollution in the Blacks Run Watershed in Harrisonburg ($325,000);

• reducing agricultural waste in high-density animal-production watersheds, through the Shenandoah Valley Clean Streams Initiative ($800,000);

• expanding the Chesapeake Club marketing campaign to target how individuals can help reduce pollution in the bay ($500,000);

• reducing runoff, through a Rivanna River Basin Commission grant, from Charlottesville High School, Crozet wetlands, Fluvanna County High School and Greene County Community Park ($725,000);

• building a training area to demonstrate techniques to filter and manage urban runoff, through the Science Museum of Virginia ($700,000).

Contact Jim Nolan at (804) 649-6061 or .