Rappahannock County Water Quality Advisory Committee

Reports & Meeting Minutes

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Minutes of the August 10, 2006 Meeting
of the Rappahannock County Water Quality Advisory Committee

The Chair called the meeting to order at 5:05 p.m. in the Courthouse of Rappahannock County, Virginia.

Monica Rifaat moved that the minutes of the July 2006 meeting be approved as circulated, seconded by Greg Wichelns. All members voted in favor.

Beverly Hunter noted the continued absence of the Rappahannock school student representative and suggested that this was important enough to warrant attention. Tom Tepper added that other schools in the County should be considered for representation, Hearthstone and Wakefield as examples. Then followed a discussion of the role of the student representative. There was concern that the school representative could be somewhat overwhelmed in the meetings resulting in reduced participation. One question in the minds of the Committee concerned the existence of a publication or other media in the school where the student representative could disseminate to the student body the information and actions of the Committee. The Chair took responsibility to discuss the issue with the County Administrator.

The Committee turned to the recent TMDL Technical Advisory Committee meeting. The meeting was attended by Beverly Hunter, Monica Rifaat and Greg Wichelms. Out of an extensive discussion that ensued, the nature of the stream TMDL models and their development surfaced as a key issue. The definite lack of knowledge about the model resulted in a belief of the Water Quality Advisory Committee that a presentation on the model would be useful if not crucial to the Committee in carrying out its advisory role.

To this end the Committee would like to have a presentation on the model perhaps as part of the October 11, 2006 TMDL public meeting. The Committee suggested moving its October meeting to the 11th in conjunction with the TMDL meeting for this purpose. The Chair took responsibility for the issue—in particular, discussion with the County Administrator. Greg Wichelns agreed that he could provide a “translation” of the technical DEQ/DCR presentation into lay language if needed.

The Water Quality Advisory Committee addressed the second issue surfacing from the discussion of the TMDL process: How do we involve the Agricultural Committee in this issue? It was noted that farmers probably will be the segment of the population most heavily impacted by TMDL’s, yet they are not proportionally involved in the process. Discussions followed looking at the farmer involvement issue. Enlisting the help of the Rappahannock County Farm Bureau surfaced as an approach that had possibilities.

Beverly Hunter reported on RappFLOW activities—in particular, the Clean Streams Project. Progress is being made; however, no funding from DCR has arrived for the activities. It was noted that activities under this project will enhance the image of Rappahannock County in the environmental arena.

The August meeting of the Water Quality Advisory Committee adjourned at 6:20 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Reid Folsom, Chair