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Concerned riparian
landowners living downstream from the Town of Washington came together last month to question Town plans to discharge treated sewage effluent directly into the Rush River. Joined by more than fifty citizens across the county, Friends of the Rush have doubts about whether the Town’s expensive plans, long in the making but only recently clear to many outside the Town, represent the best solution for County and Town residents, for County water resources, and for the health of Chesapeake Bay. '
The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has issued a Draft Permit that would allow the Town to discharge treated sewage wastewater from a proposed sewage treatment plant into the Rush River at the rate of up to 60,000 gallons per day, even though the Rush is sometimes reduced to zero flow during dry periods. According to the Draft Permit, the effluent would be allowed to contain reduced levels of dissolved oxygen, elevated levels of nitrogen and phosphorous nutrients, and levels of fecal coliform bacteria an order of magnitude above what is easily achieved with today’s technology. Nutrient pollution from the Rush River discharge could be offset through the purchase of credits from treatment plants operating outside of Rappahannock County or by nutrient remediation anywhere in the Rappahannock River watershed. The permit does not regulate levels of most toxic compounds, including organic and inorganic chemicals, heavy metals, pesticides, herbicides, carcinogens, and pharmaceuticals.
There will be a public hearing on the draft DEQ Permit on March 28 in the Rappahannock County High School auditorium. Attendees will have an opportunity to ask questions of DEQ officials at a 6:30 p.m. question and answer session at the start of the meeting and will be allowed to comment fur the record during the official hearing, immediately following.
Unresolved concerns expressed to date by various participants in two Friends of the Rush public meetings, recent Town Council and County Board of Supervisors meetings, and at several meetings of the Friends of the Rush Steering Committee include the following:
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