How does the Proactive Approach work?
The Proactive Approach utilizes the “two-year look-back requirement” which mandates that an impaired water body would have to be meeting water quality standards for two years before qualifying for removal from the 303(d) list of impaired waters. Because in many cases, sources of bacteria pollution are obvious, and because bacteria pollution tends to respond rapidly to the implementation of Best Management Practices, or BMPs, waters impaired by bacteria are particularly suitable for the proactive approach. The three components of the proactive approach are as follows: • The proactive approach for a water body impaired by bacteria would be initiated by a search for in-or near stream sources of bacteria. This can be done by stream walks or with help from local experts from DEQ, VDH, DCR, USDA and other local, state and federal agencies. • Restoration efforts would then be targeted at these visible pollution sources for a limited number of years, e.g. one or two. Screening methods to ident
