                                 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.