Water Quality at the Virginia Department of Forestry

Forests provide a vital role in preserving water quality. The Virginia Department of Forestry (VDOF) inspects logging jobs to ensure that best management practices are being followed by loggers so that water quality isn't compromised by their logging activities. VDOF's Water Quality Monitoring reviews the status of VDOF's efforts to guard this resource.

VDOF also has a major role in protecting watersheds through riparian forest buffers. Riparian forest buffers reduce erosion and cleanse water entering streams.

These activities are allowed under the Code of Virginia: Water Quality Law, Chapter 11, 10.1-1181.7

Landowners can learn the signs of a good timber harvest to see if a logger is doing his job properly. To learn about maintaining forest areas, visit our Watershed Management section or our Best Management Practices Guide. A Best Management Practices Field Guide is also available.

Sediment Trapping by Streamside Management Zones of Various Widths after Forest Harvest and Site Preparation (English; PDF format)

Water Conservation

Earth's water is always in movement, and the water cycle, also known as the hydrologic cycle, describes the continuous movement of water on, above, and below the surface of the Earth.

Conserve Water

• Citizens can create rain gardens to help keep water clean and pure.
• Water Conservation Tips from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.
• Water Use It Wisely
• In Fairfax County, get local assistance with a Water Quality Guide - Fairfax County.
• Virginia Water Resource Conditions - Maps and graphs.

Watersheds

• Chesapeake Bay Pollution. If you want to know where the pollutants that enter the Chesapeake Bay are coming from, visit the Chesapeake Bay Executive Order website.
• Watershed Assessment of River Stability & Sediment Supply - from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
• Center for Watershed Protection provides local governments, activists, and watershed organizations with the technical tools for protecting our streams, lakes and rivers.

Wetlands

• Wetlands have value and importance to water quality.

Drought

• Drought Tolerant Annuals | Shrubs | Trees
• Managing Landscape Turf Under Drought Conditions

Stormwater Runoff

• Stormwater Manager's Resource Center assists stormwater practitioners, local government officials and others that need technical assistance on stormwater management issues.

Water Quality and Nutrient Management

Management of commercial fertilizers and other products, which add to streams and rivers through runoff, is an important aspect of water quality.

• Annual Maximum Stages and Discharges of Selected Streams in Virginia through 2007 (English; PDF format)
• Forest Fertilization and Water Quality in the United States (English; PDF format)
• Forest Water Quality Literature Review. This 95-page review (English; PDF format) contains research summaries and abstracts from more than 286 peer reviewed scientific articles specific to forests and water quality.

Water Availability and Supply

• Real-Time Water Data for Virginia from the U.S. Geological Survey.
• Water Resources of Virginia and the United States.
• Virginia Water Monitoring Council (VWMC) website has information about who is monitoring in Virginia, water quality happenings, and water resource information.
• Virginia Water Resources Research Center website.
• Visit the National Academies' Water Information Center.
• Science and Technology to Support Fresh Water Availability in the United States - read the report from the President’s National Science And Technology Council.
• WaterWatch gives an instantaneous picture of water conditions nationwide in near real time.
• National Water Information System has comprehensive data includes real-time streamflow and historical flood peaks.

Water Contamination and Pollution

• James River Tributary Strategy has sediment and nutrient allocations and goals (released April, 2005).
• The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently published new National Management Measures to Control Nonpoint Source Pollution from Forestry, a technical guidance and reference document for use in the implementation of nonpoint source (NPS) pollution management programs in forest settings. The new guidance contains information on the best available, economically achievable means of reducing nonpoint source pollution that can result from forestry activities.

Last modified: Tuesday, 06-Mar-2012 16:00:26 EST