Environmental report gives James River a 'C'

The James River is the largest river in Virginia, with more than 2.5 million people living in its watershed. It is home to history, ports and the state capital, and it boasts some of the highest concentrations of bald eagles on the East Coast.

Narrow at its head in the mountains and wide at its mouth in Hampton Roads, the James also receives more pollutants than any other state waterway. And herein lies the problem.

A report compiled by an environmental group and released Wednesday says 35 years of fighting pollution - chiefly, nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment, which combine to create muddy, soupy conditions - have stalled and that a new urgency is needed.

"Like a boat rowing against the tide, our efforts and investments over the past decade only kept pace with the growing population and development," said Bill Street, executive director of the James River Association, a group dedicated to reviving what it calls America's Founding River. "Additional progress in reaching a fully healthy river will require a full commitment to Virginia's cleanup plan for the James River."

That cleanup plan is contained within a broader blueprint for accelerating the restoration of the Chesapeake Bay, into which the James empties. It calls on agriculture to reduce fertilizer and nutrient-rich runoff from fields and pastures, sewage treatment plants and industries to better neutralize their wastewater, and cities and towns to better manage stormwater flowing off streets, development sites, lawns and pavement.

However, those actions will require huge costs - estimates for the James River alone run into the hundreds of millions of dollars - money that most government agencies say isn't there amid the current economic doldrums.

In its progress report, compiled every two years, the river association gave the James a combined score of 53 percent, which it graded as a C. That's down 4 percentage points since 2009, when the river earned a C+.

In calculating its scorecard, the group relied on water-quality data collected at state monitoring stations throughout the 10,000-square-mile basin, and used computers and estimates for only about 20 percent of the science, Street explained.

The group again measured progress and pitfalls in four main categories: pollution, habitat, key fish and wildlife, and restoration and protection actions. The report Wednesday described declines in three of the four categories, with only habitat showing improvement, by only 1 percentage point.

Not that the river is collapsing. Street said the overall health of the James is much better compared with when the association first organized and began tracking trends 35 years ago.

He also noted several recent successes: the return of bald eagles to cliffs and trees along the river, mostly south of Richmond; an uptick in shad populations, helped by the removal of dams that had blocked the fish from accessing their spawning grounds; and the return of underwater grasses to portions of the middle and lower James, sections that had not seen such lush green habitats for years.

But the continuing plague of too much nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment, fueled by heavy rains that wash these land-based pollutants into the river, is making progress elusive, Street said.

He called on state lawmakers to pass a $300 million bond package to help sewage treatment plants complete upgrades in order to control nutrients in their discharges, and said farmers need more aid to curb runoff.

Street expressed support for the new aggressive approach to restoring the Bay, and the James, as outlined by President Barack Obama's administration. And he encouraged Gov. Bob McDonnell's administration to continue working with federal overseers, despite their concerns about the timing and science behind the stronger push.

"Unfortunately," he said, "unless we redouble our commitment to controlling pollution flowing into the James, we run the real risk of erasing the progress we have worked so hard to achieve."

Scott Harper, (757) 446-2340, scott.harper@pilotonline.com