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Permit Review and Tracking
Eastern Shore Ground Water Management Area
In 1976, the Virginia Administrative Code was amended to declare the Eastern Shore of Virginia a Critical Ground Water Area. This designation provides the authority for the state to regulate ground water withdrawals under the current Ground Water Management Act of 1992. Any person or entity wishing to withdraw 300,000 gallons per month or more in the Eastern Shore Ground Water Management Area must obtain a permit to withdraw the water from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.
In issuing a permit to withdraw ground water, DEQ considers the need for the amount and quality requested, potential adverse impacts to the ground water resource and other existing ground water users, water conservation and management methods to reduce demand, and methods and procedures to mitigate impacts from the withdrawal to other existing users should they occur in the future. Once the permit is approved, the ground water user must meet conditions specified in the permit, which in all cases requires routine reporting of ground water use and implementation of a water conservation and management plan and mitigation plan.The Committee assisted by their ground water consultant reviews and tracks all permits issued.