Fairview Beach Watershed Plan King George County, Virginia Prepared for Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) Northern Virginia Regional Office 13901 Crown Court Woodbridge, VA 22193 in partial fulfillment of the requirements of Grant No. 15784 Prepared by Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin (ICPRB) 30 W. Gude, Suite 450 Rockville, MD 20850 September 2014 Cover Photo Potomac River at Fairview Beach, Virginia, May 15, 2014. Photo by James Palmer, ICPRB. Disclaimer The opinions expressed in this report are those of the authors and should not be construed as representing the opinions or policies of the United States government or the signatories or Commissioners to ICPRB. Table of Contents Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................................... i List of Tables ........................................................................................................................................... iii List of Figures ........................................................................................................................................... v List of Appendices ................................................................................................................................... vi Abbreviations .............................................................................................................................................. vii Units of Measurement .............................................................................................................................. ix Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................................... x Executive Summary ..................................................................................................................................... xi 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Selection of a Watershed Plan Approach ...................................................................................... 1 1.2 Watershed Plan Elements.............................................................................................................. 2 2 Description of Fairview Beach ........................................................................................................... 2 2.1 Description of PSA ....................................................................................................................... 3 2.1.1 Delineation of Sub-watersheds .............................................................................................. 3 2.2 Topography ................................................................................................................................... 4 2.3 Soils............................................................................................................................................... 5 2.4 Land Use Analysis ........................................................................................................................ 7 2.5 Population ................................................................................................................................... 10 2.6 Community Life .......................................................................................................................... 10 3 Stakeholder Involvement .................................................................................................................. 11 3.1 Outreach/public participation ...................................................................................................... 14 3.2 Working Groups .......................................................................................................................... 14 4 Defining the Bacteria Problem ......................................................................................................... 16 4.1 Applicable Water Quality Standard ............................................................................................ 16 4.1.1 Fairview Beach Bacteria Impairment ................................................................................... 17 4.2 Analysis of Monitoring Data....................................................................................................... 17 4.3 Source and Transport Mechanisms for Bacteria ......................................................................... 18 4.3.1 Human Sources .................................................................................................................... 18 4.3.2 Dogs ..................................................................................................................................... 19 4.3.3 Birds and Wildlife ................................................................................................................ 19 4.3.4 Potomac River ...................................................................................................................... 20 4.3.5 Re-suspended Sediment and Beach Sand............................................................................. 23 4.3.6 Stormwater ........................................................................................................................... 24 4.3.7 Groundwater ......................................................................................................................... 24 4.3.8 Summary of Contributions of Sources and Transport Paths ................................................ 24 4.4 Conceptual Model of Bacteria Concentrations at Fairview Beach ............................................. 26 4.4.1 Fairview Beach Watershed Model ....................................................................................... 27 4.4.2 Validation of the Fairview Beach Conceptual Model .......................................................... 29 4.5 Reductions Required to Meet the Water Quality Standard ......................................................... 33 4.6 Approach to Achieving Necessary Load Reductions .................................................................. 33 5 Management Measures ..................................................................................................................... 35 5.1 Existing BMPs ............................................................................................................................ 36 5.2 BMPs to Address Human Sources .............................................................................................. 37 5.2.1 Anticipated Load Reductions ............................................................................................... 38 5.2.2 Critical Areas ....................................................................................................................... 38 5.2.3 Necessary Permits and Review ............................................................................................ 40 5.2.4 Lead Agencies ...................................................................................................................... 40 5.3 BMPs to Address Pet Waste ....................................................................................................... 40 5.3.1 Anticipated Load Reductions ............................................................................................... 41 i 5.3.2 Critical Areas ....................................................................................................................... 41 5.3.3 Necessary Permits and Review ............................................................................................ 42 5.3.4 Lead Agencies ...................................................................................................................... 42 5.4 BMPs to Address Stormwater ..................................................................................................... 42 5.4.1 Anticipated Load Reductions ............................................................................................... 43 5.4.2 Critical Areas ....................................................................................................................... 45 5.4.3 Necessary Permits and Review ............................................................................................ 47 5.4.4 Lead Agencies ...................................................................................................................... 47 5.5 Educational Activities ................................................................................................................. 47 5.5.1 Anticipated Load Reductions ............................................................................................... 48 5.5.2 Critical Areas ....................................................................................................................... 48 5.5.3 Necessary Permits and Review ............................................................................................ 49 5.5.4 Lead Agencies ...................................................................................................................... 49 5.6 Other BMPs ................................................................................................................................ 49 5.6.1 Anticipated Load Reductions ..............................................................................................