                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

POINT SOURCE POLLUTION FUNDING; CONDITIONS FOR APPROVAL (§ 10.1-2131)

A. The Department of Environmental Quality (the Department) shall be the lead
state agency for determining the appropriateness of any grant related to point
source pollution to be made from the Fund to restore, protect, or improve state
water quality.

B. The Director of the Department (the Director) shall, subject to available
funds and in coordination with the Director of the Department of Conservation
and Recreation, direct the State Treasurer to make Water Quality Improvement
Grants in accordance with the guidelines established pursuant to &#xA7;
10.1-2129. The Director shall enter into grant agreements with all facilities
designated as significant dischargers or eligible nonsignificant dischargers
that apply for grants; however, all such grant agreements shall contain
provisions that payments thereunder are subject to the availability of funds.

C. Notwithstanding the priority provisions of &#xA7; 10.1-2129, the Director
shall not authorize the distribution of grants from the Fund for purposes other
than financing the cost of design and installation of nutrient removal
technology at publicly owned treatment works in the Chesapeake Bay watershed
until such time as nutrient reductions of regulations, permits, or the
Chesapeake Bay TMDL Watershed Implementation Plan are satisfied, unless he finds
that there exists in the Fund sufficient funds for substantial and continuing
progress in implementation of the reductions established in accordance with
regulations, permits, or the Chesapeake Bay TMDL Watershed Implementation Plan
within the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
			In addition to the provisions of &#xA7; 10.1-2130, all grant agreements
related to nutrients shall include: (i) numerical technology-based effluent
concentration limitations on nutrient discharges to state waters based upon the
technology installed by the facility; (ii) enforceable provisions related to the
maintenance of the numerical concentrations that will allow for exceedances of
0.8 mg/L for total nitrogen or no more than 10 percent, whichever is greater,
for exceedances of 0.1 mg/L for total phosphorus or no more than 10%, and for
exceedances caused by extraordinary conditions; and (iii) recognition of the
authority of the Commonwealth to make the Virginia Water Facilities Revolving
Fund (&#xA7; 62.1-224 et seq.) available to local governments to fund their
share of the cost of designing and installing nutrient removal technology based
on financial need and subject to availability of revolving loan funds, priority
ranking, and revolving loan distribution criteria.
			If, pursuant to &#xA7; 10.1-1187.6, the State Water Control Board approves an
alternative compliance method to technology-based concentration limitations in
Virginia Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits, the concentration
limitations of the grant agreement shall be suspended subject to the terms of
such approval. The cost of the design and installation of nutrient removal
technology at publicly owned treatment works meeting the nutrient reductions of
regulations, permits, or the Chesapeake Bay TMDL Watershed Implementation Plan
and incurred prior to the execution of a grant agreement is eligible for
reimbursement from the Fund if the grant is made pursuant to an executed
agreement consistent with the provisions of this chapter.
			Subsequent to the implementation of any applicable regulations, permits, or
the Chesapeake Bay TMDL Watershed Implementation Plan, the Director may
authorize disbursements from the Fund for any water quality restoration,
protection, and improvements related to point source pollution that are clearly
demonstrated as likely to achieve measurable and specific water quality
improvements, including cost effective technologies to reduce loads of total
phosphorus, total nitrogen, or nitrogen-containing ammonia in order to meet the
requirements of regulations associated with the reduction of ammonia that have
not yet been adopted and that are more stringent than regulations adopted by the
State Water Control Board as of January 1, 2018. Notwithstanding any provision
of this subsection, the Director may, at any time, authorize grants, including
grants to institutions of higher education, for technical assistance related to
nutrient reduction.
			Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, the Director may at any
time authorize grants for the design and installation of wastewater conveyance
infrastructure that (a) diverts wastewater from one publicly owned treatment
works that is eligible for grant funding under this chapter to another publicly
owned treatment works that also is eligible for such funding; (b) diverts
wastewater to a receiving treatment works that is capable of achieving
compliance with its nutrient reduction or ammonia control discharge requirements
and results in a net reduction in total phosphorus, total nitrogen, or
nitrogen-containing ammonia discharges; and (c) results in a Water Quality
Improvement Grant expense being incurred by the Department that is the same as
or lower than the grant expense the Department would incur in funding design and
installation of eligible nutrient removal or other applicable treatment
technology at such treatment works that would have treated the wastewater in the
absence of the diversion project.

D. The grant percentage provided for financing the costs of the design and
installation of nutrient removal technology at publicly owned treatment works
shall be based upon the financial need of the community as determined by
comparing the annual sewer charges expended within the service area to the
reasonable sewer cost established for the community.

E. Grants shall be awarded in the following manner:

   1. In communities for which the ratio of annual sewer charges to reasonable
   sewer cost is less than 0.30, the Director shall authorize grants in the
   amount of 35 percent of the costs of the design and installation of nutrient
   removal technology;

   2. In communities for which the ratio of annual sewer charges to reasonable
   sewer cost is equal to or greater than 0.30 and less than 0.50, the Director
   shall authorize grants in the amount of 45 percent of the costs of the design
   and installation of nutrient removal technology;

   3. In communities for which the ratio of annual sewer charges to reasonable
   sewer cost is equal to or greater than 0.50 and less than 0.80, the Director
   shall authorize grants in the amount of 60 percent of the costs of design and
   installation of nutrient removal technology; and

   4. In communities for which the ratio of annual sewer charges to reasonable
   sewer cost is equal to or greater than 0.80, the Director shall authorize
   grants in the amount of 75 percent of the costs of the design and installation
   of nutrient removal technology.

HISTORY: 1997, cc. 21, 625, 626; 1999, cc. 257, 509; 2005, cc. 704, 707, 709;
2006, c. 236; 2015, c. 164; 2018, cc. 609, 610; 2019, c. 533.