Having lived my life (74 years) along the Rappahannock River --in Essex County in my youth and in the City of Fredericksburg in my adult years, I can recall in my early years the bountifull harvests from the river and the bay -- unlimited herring and American shad in the spring, succulent blue crabs in the  summer and famous Rappahannock oysters in the fall and winter.  These have largely disappeared in recent years.  I was recently surprised and disappointed that a recent purchase of crab meat had been "imported" from Alabama.

Why has this happened?  Without question, one of the principal factors has been the decline of the water quality of the Bay. This has been the result of the large-scale land development  for residential houses, shopping centers, and roads to service these development projects, fueled by the tremendous increase in the population in the Bay area.  This will no doubt continue - it is  estimated 3.4 million more people will live in the Bay area in the next 20 years.  Unless something is done run-off from all the existing and future development will have catastrophic effect on our river and the Bay,

Over the years Virginia has largely paid lip service to cleaning up our waters.  Our state has repeatedly failed to meet its pollution reduction levels.  Now we have a real opportunity to begin to tackle our water degradation and pollution problems.  Three years in the making, the new regulations proposed by the Dept. of Conservation and Recreation aim to reduce the allowable levels of phosphorus in run-off from new developments from 0.45lbs/ac/yr  to 0.28lbs/ac/yr.

If these regulations are enacted and enforced, it is possible our citizens may once again enjoy the bountiful  fruits of the Bay-- shad, crabs, oysters not to mention clean and clear water.

Please enact the proposed new regulations to protect and preserve our Bay and the rivers that flow into it.