From a Nextdoor post by Thomas Adajian:
(posted with permission)
The VA Virginia Department of Environmental’s official rating of some of our local streams might be of interest to Crozet residents who hike the greenway (and those who don’t). Especially in the light of accelerating development.
Lickinghole Creek is on the DEQ “Impaired Waters List for 2018” list. See link, p. 24.
Its official rating is “impaired.” It’s officially a “High” priority for a TMDL, although there is none currently.I believe it’s been on the list since 2010. (A TMDL establishes the maximum amount of a pollutant allowed in a waterbody and serves as the starting point or planning tool for restoring water quality. See https://www.epa.gov/tmdl.
Lickinghole Creek’s official DEQ categorization is Virginia Category 5A. That means “a Water Quality Standard is not attained. The water is impaired or threatened for one or more designated uses by a pollutant(s) and requires a TMDL (303d list).”
Mechums River, into which LIckinghole Creek feeds, has the same rating ( p. 24). It’s been on the list since 2004.
A useful comment about anonymous reporting
https://portal.deq.virginia.gov/prep/Report/Create
Try link above for anonymous reporting, folks. You can even upload pictures. If the source of muddy “sludge” in our stream is a construction site, it’s a big problem. The sites are supposed to follow the state erosion and sediment guidelines and when done properly, sediment laden runoff should not flow off site. Please report these incidences- either the state or the County will come out to inspect and address the guilty party accordingly, having them install the proper controls to prevent harm to our streams.ThankReply
