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In accordance with Chapter 781 of the 2011 Virginia Acts of Assembly (HB1830) the Virginia Soil and Water Conservation Board authorized the establishment of new regulations that clarify and specify the criteria that must be included in a resource management plan and the processes by which a Certificate of RMP Implementation is issued and maintained. The intent of the regulatory action is to encourage farm owners and operators to voluntarily implement a high level of BMPs on their farmlands in order to be protective of water quality and for them to then benefit from the following legal provision stating that “notwithstanding any other provision of law, agricultural landowners or operators who fully implement and maintain the applicable components of their resource management plan, in accordance with the criteria for such plans set out in § 10.1-104.[8] and any regulations adopted thereunder, shall be deemed to be in full compliance with (i) any load allocation contained in a total maximum daily load (TMDL) established under § 303(d) of the federal Clean Water Act addressing benthic, bacteria, nutrient, or sediment impairments; (ii) any requirements of the Virginia Chesapeake Bay TMDL Watershed Implementation Plan; and (iii) applicable state water quality requirements for nutrients and sediment”.
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