The Groundwater Committee has advocated for three decades for the use of this surficial (Columbia) aquifer in preference to the confined Yorktown-Eastover aquifer as a more sustainable source of water supply for irrigation and non-potable uses.  The proposed General Permit helps achieve this goal by reducing the regulatory burden to use the Columbia aquifer. This is beneficial to businesses and the resource since it has a simplified burden to use the most sustainable source of water available. The Eastern Shore of Virginia Groundwater Committee is strongly supportive of this regulatory action.

For over thirty years the Eastern Shore Groundwater Committee has advocated for the greater use of the surficial aquifer ( the Columbia ).   It is a more sustainable source of water supply than the confined Yorktown-Eastover aquifer.  The proposed General Permit will help to encourage this goal by establishing a simple and cost effective General Permitting process and reducing the regulatory burden.  Simple is always better for everybody !

As the chairman of the ESGWC, I strongly support this proposed regulation.

Paul Muhly, Accomack County Supervisor, District 4 

I am a member of the Accomack-Northampton Counties Groundwater committee, appointed by the Northampton County Board of Supervisors. I am writing in support of this regulation as it will help to protect the sole source drinking water aquifer in Accomack and Northampton Counties. While I do not speak for the Groundwater committee or Northampton County, it is my understanding that this regulation has long been a goal of both. I appreciate the efforts of DEQ Groundwater staff in helping to protect the ground water quality and quantity through this regulation. Very truly yours, Roberta Kellam

As a member of the Regulatory Advisory Panel, I voiced my concerns that the original intent of the legislation had been lost, ie, "to provide incentives for the withdrawal of ground water from the surficial aquifer in the Eastern Shore ... [which] may include extended permit terms of as long as 20 years, an accelerated permit process, discounted permit fees, other subsidies, or other incentives." The group decided that extending the permit term wasn't feasible, and our largest users, namely agriculture, are exempt from permit fees. That leaves the accelerated process, which by itself seems to be a very weak incentive. There are real pressures convincing poultry farmers and other large users to use the deep aquifer, and nothing in the proposed general permit will change their mind. DEQ staff indicated that it is not within their purview to provide "other subsidies or other incentives." If not DEQ, then who? If not the State Water Control Board, then who? If we really want to move users to the surficial aquifer, this is not enough to accomplish that goal.