Virginia's Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act
Bay Act Overview
The Virginia General Assembly enacted the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act in 1988 to protect the water quality in the Chesapeake Bay and its Tributaries. The Bay Act applies to the 84 Tidewater localities shown on this map (click here). The Bay Act and the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area Designation and Management Regulations established a cooperative relationship between state and local governments aimed at reducing and preventing nonpoint source pollution. The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) administers the state component of the program while the DCR’s Chesapeake Bay Local Assistance Program staff helps localities administer Bay Act programs. At the heart of the Bay Act is the concept that land can be used and developed in ways that minimize negative impacts on water quality and the result is cleaner water locally and a cleaner Chesapeake Bay. For an overview of the Virginia Bay Act Program (click here).
Bay Act Intent
The Bay Act was designed to enhance water quality and still allow reasonable development to continue. It requires the use of effective conservation planning and pollution prevention practices when using and developing environmentally sensitive lands and recognizes that local governments should have the primary responsibility for water quality protection and land use decisions. Further, the Bay Act establishes a relationship between local land use decision-making and its impact or water quality.
More Information on the Bay Act
For a broader review of the Act, we refer to the Department of Conservation and Recreation’s Division of Chesapeake Bay Local Assistance “A Guide to the Bay Act”, the brochure “Virginia’s Bay Act Program”, and the “Working Together to Protect streams, Rivers, and the Bay”(Working Together Brochure). For a more comprehensive list of CBLAD publications (click here).
The Bay Act’s Septic Cleaning Requirement
The Bay Act’s requirement that septic systems be pumped out at least once every five years is only a small component of the Act but it is probably the component that brought you to this web page. The Act requires localities to have a program that insures compliance with the septic cleaning requirement. Each locality has the liberty to establish its own program as long as it satisfies the state’s compliance standard. The septic pump-out requirement is an attempt to help localities prevent septic system failure, which reduces nitrogen loading and the amount of pathogens and toxics that reach state waterways. Also, well contamination studies show the biggest potential source is a failed septic system. Septic pump-out and repair programs present a primary strategy in the clean-up of our waters.
By increasing the public’s understanding how septic systems affects our environment the Bay Act is achieving its ultimate goal of improved water quality and the protection of public health. At Brockwell’s we assist our customers with compliance by notifying their respective county when their septic system has been cleaned.
