Virginia Law

A. Applicability.

1. Except as stated in this section, this chapter applies to every user withdrawing groundwater or surface water in Virginia including the Potomac River abutting Virginia whose average daily withdrawal during any single month exceeds 10,000 gallons per day. Reportable withdrawals include, but are not limited to, those for public water supply, manufacturing, mining, commercial, institutional, livestock watering, artificial fish culture, and steam-electric power generation uses.

2. This chapter applies to every user withdrawing ground or surface water for the purpose of irrigating crops whose withdrawal exceeds 1 million gallons in any single month. Such users need not report withdrawals from ponds collecting diffuse surface water and not situated on a perennial stream as defined on U.S. Geological Survey 7.5-minute series topographic maps, unless the ponds are dug ponds which intercept the groundwater table and hence contain groundwater.

B. Exemptions.

1. This chapter does not apply to:

a. Users reporting under the provisions of the Groundwater Act the information here required, provided the withdrawal is gaged in accordance with this chapter;

b. Drydock fillings;

c. Withdrawals from mines or quarries made for the sole purpose of dewatering the mine or quarry, provided that the water withdrawn is not put to other beneficial uses such as, but not limited to, washing or cooling; and

d. Withdrawals made for the sole purpose of hydroelectric power generation, provided that the water withdrawn is not put to other beneficial uses and that none of it is consumptively used.

2. Users subject to the Virginia Department of Health Waterworks Regulations shall annually report to the board the source and location of water withdrawals and the type of use information required here. They may provide the monthly withdrawal data required here by reference to reports filed with the Virginia Department of Health.

3. Industrial VPDES permittees shall annually report to the board the source and location of water withdrawals and the type of use information required here. They may provide the monthly withdrawal data required here by reference to VPDES discharge monitoring reports filed with the department provided that:

a. The wastewater return flow to the receiving natural water body is gaged and the total monthly volume is reported on the discharge monitoring reports;

b. There is no substantial temporal lag between natural water withdrawal and wastewater return;

c. Augmentation of the withdrawal (e.g., by collected surface run-off or infiltration/inflow) and diminution of the withdrawal (e.g., by consumption in product or evaporation) are either shown to be negligible or are separately reported pursuant to this chapter as adjustments to the wastewater return flow; and

d. The monthly wastewater return flow, adjusted as necessary in accordance with subdivision 3 c of subsection B, is volumetrically equivalent to monthly withdrawal within a tolerance of ± 10%.