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Vast Stretches of Rivers Are Polluted, State Says
In recent months, a number of accounts have bolstered that claim.
Reports of high phosphorus levels and foam in the James River have perplexed Richmond officials, who have been trying to determine the source of the pollution.
  Dead fish float in the Shenandoah River east of Berryville. (By Scott Mason -- Winchester Star Via Associated Press) |
Closer to home, in the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers, large numbers of fish have been dying for unknown reasons, many of them with lesions or ambiguous sex organs. Scientists suspect that discarded pharmaceuticals, considered an "emerging pollutant," and traditional pollutants such as fertilizers might have contributed.
It was those dead fish that sent Bonnie and Todd Lewis hunting for a new fishing spot four years ago. Todd Lewis lives about 10 minutes from the Shenandoah, but two or three times a week he drives an hour to Algonkian Regional Park or two hours to Lake Anna in Mineral for his fishing fix.
"Sooner or later, it is going to ruin the fishing everywhere out here," he said.
Many of the waterways were identified as impaired in the state report because of contaminated fish. A particular problem in the downstream parts of the Potomac are polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, industrial chemicals banned in the 1970s but lingering in the environment, officials said.
The state has developed guidelines on fish from rivers and streams that encourage people to limit the consumption of certain species and to avoid others, officials said. (Information can be found at http:/
The waterways highlighted in the report by and large are safe for swimming, Glover said. Of the 49 public beaches managed by the state, five -- none of them in Northern Virginia -- are considered unsafe because of high bacteria levels, he said.
The problem seems to be catching the attention of politicians. The recently passed state budget included more than $270 million for water quality projects, most of it for the Chesapeake Bay but about $72 million for the river system. Environmentalists lauded the allocation as an important step.
The Department of Environmental Quality is accepting public comments on the report, which is available at http:/
