Why is Green Infrastructure essential to the Rappahannock Watershed?

The Rappahannock River and Chesapeake Bay watersheds are considered impaired and polluted due to excess levels of nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediments. These pollutants come from a variety of sources but the largest is what is referred to as non-point source pollution from stormwater runoff.

Stormwater runoff collects dirt, oils, trash, sediment, and other pollutants during and following rain events and carries these pollutants into agricultural drainage ditches, urban storm drains, and then into creeks, streams, the Rappahannock River and eventually the Chesapeake Bay.

The predominant sources for stormwater runoff pollution come from urban and developed landscapes and agricultural properties.

One of the ways Friends of the Rappahannock (FOR) works to address stormwater runoff is through a program that targets residential, commercial, and public properties in urban and suburban environments throughout the Rappahannock River watershed.   Our Rainscape Retrofits program is designed to work with local communities, partners, and volunteers to promote the use of innovative management strategies and reduce the amount of unwanted contaminants (mostly nutrients and sediments) and excessive quantities of stormwater from reaching the Rappahannock River and tributaries by installing small scale green infrastructure projects. The program works to implement a high volume of low-tech, low-maintenance residential scale, best management practices to encourage infiltration. These projects can include a wide range of green infrastructure solutions. 

The Virginia Association Soil and Water Conservation Districts has an urban stormwater best management practice cost-share program called the Virginia Conservation Assistance Program (VCAP). This program is administered through local soil and water conservation districts and provides 75% cost-share for a wide range of stormwater BMPs for properties throughout the Chesapeake Bay.