Legislative and Regulatory Updates

Permits any locality that operates a water distribution system or any water authority that operates a water distribution system, or their respective duly authorized agents, to, at reasonable times and under reasonable circumstances, enter any establishment or upon any property, public or private, for the purpose of obtaining information or conducting surveys or investigations necessary to inspect service lines to make the required system-side and customer-side service line material classifications for lead status to comply with federal law. Requires any such inspector to maintain a record of such inspections, including the date, time, and result of the inspection, and, further, requires the inspector to inform the customer of the result of the inspection.

Allows the Commissioner of Health to petition the circuit court for the jurisdiction in which any public or private waterworks is located for the appointment of a receiver for such waterworks. Currently such appointment of receivership is only for private waterworks.

Requires every POTW to require certain new or existing industrial users to self-report use of PFAS substances as part of a pretreatment program. Requires every POTW receiving such self-report of PFAS from an industrial user to convey the information to DEQ within 90 days of receipt. Amends the defined meaning of "use of PFAS" to exclude use of surface water or groundwater supply from the definition. Currently, "use of PFAS" does not include manufacturing equipment that contains PFAS. Directs any industrial user required to self-report use of PFAS to submit such report within 90 days of notification from the publicly owned treatment works of this reporting requirement and requires the publicly owned treatment works to notify relevant industrial users of the requirement to self-report use of PFAS within 90 days of notification from the Department to make such notification. Requires DEQ to notify POTW of the industrial user self-reporting requirements within 30 days of the bill's effective date. Directs PFAS Expert Advisory Committee to include in its 2026 report recommendations on the development of an inventory of PFAS testing methodologies and control technologies for industrial sources. https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/HB938

Clarifies that a locality may, by ordinance, test and monitor the land application of sewage sludge within its political boundaries to ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations, including all water quality standards set forth in the Surface Water Standards with General, Statewide Application regulations, and not limited to testing and monitoring for substances listed in the VPA Permit Regulations.

Directs DEQ to require quarterly monitoring for one year for PFAS substances for every industrial wastewater source that discharges pollutants into a publicly owned treatment works. The bill requires (i) any owner or operator of such industrial wastewater source to submit the results of such monitoring quarterly to the publicly owned treatment works and DEQ; (ii) if quarterly monitoring reveals PFAS in any amount, the owner or operator of such industrial wastewater source to continue to monitor for PFAS on a quarterly basis and submit the results of such monitoring to the POTW and DEQ; and (iii) any new industrial wastewater source that discharges pollutants into a publicly owned treatment works to monitor discharges from each outfall for PFAS and submit the results of such monitoring within 90 days of the commencement of such discharges to the publicly owned treatment works and DEQ. The bill allows DEQ to reduce the frequency of such required monitoring in clause (ii) if an industrial wastewater source has at least two consecutive quarters of test results with all analyzed PFAS below the method detection level. Requires any owner or operator of an industrial wastewater source that discharges pollutants into a publicly owned treatment works to submit the initial quarterly monitoring results for PFAS as required by the bill within 30 days of the effective date of the bill.
https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/SB138

Prohibits any person that holds a valid Virginia Pollutant Abatement permit to distribute or land apply sewage sludge in the Commonwealth from distributing or land applying sewage sludge that contains any trace of PFAS, as defined in the bill. The bill (i) requires such person to, prior to the distribution or land application of sewage sludge, submit to the owner or lessee of the site where the sewage sludge is to be land applied a written statement affirming that such sewage sludge contains no trace of PFAS and (ii) subjects such person to a civil penalty not to exceed $5,000 for violating the provisions of the bill. Exempts any person engaged in an agricultural operation, and land applying sewage sludge on lands used for agricultural operation.

Provides that prior to any approval of a rezoning application, special exception application, or special use permit for the siting of a new high energy use facility (HEUF), as defined in the bill, a locality shall require that an applicant perform and submit a site assessment to examine the sound profile of the HEUF on residential units and schools located within 500 feet of the HEUF property boundary. The bill also allows a locality to require that a site assessment examine the effect of the proposed HEUF facility on (i) ground and surface water resources, (ii) agricultural resources, (iii) parks, (iv) registered historic sites, and (v) forestland on the HEUF site or immediately contiguous land. The bill provides that its provisions shall not be construed to prohibit, limit, or otherwise supersede existing local zoning authority.

Provides that it is the policy of the Commonwealth to encourage the responsible operation of data centers in the Commonwealth while supporting grid reliability, affordability, and the deployment of renewable resources. The bill provides that in furtherance of this policy, the Commonwealth shall (i) promote coordination between data centers, state agencies, and regional grid operators to share information; (ii) incentivize data centers to participate in demand response programs…; (v) require data centers to report energy and water usage, sustainability measures, and participation in grid support programs to appropriate state and federal agencies.