Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the proposed storm water regulations. I’m a chemical engineering working in the wastewater (sewage treatment) field. Virginia’s wastewater treatment plants are highly regulated, and by the end of 2010 Virginia will have many plants removing nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) to levels that are at the limits of technology. This means that there is no technical way to remove more nutrients from these discharges. State of the art wastewater treatment is extremely expensive to build and operate, and the costs are born by the general public in their wastewater rates. However, the building industry is regulated in an extremely loose fashion, even though stormwater is a major contributor to the death of the Chesapeake Bay. Stormwater controls like porous pavement, bioretention systems, rain gardens, infiltration sytems, and the like are very low-tech, readily available, and easily implemented. If done properly, these systems not only reduce the amount of run-off, they also increase the amount of recharge to our dwindling ground water supply. Implementation of the proposed stormwater regulations is just the right thing to do for so many reasons. We can no longer afford to destroy our precious watershed for the sake of another cheap strip mall and the profit of the wealthy developer.