Public notices asking for comment and ad hoc meeting dates are published in the Virginia Register. Look for submittals in the Register under the State Water Control Board. Submittals - Proposed Regulations, Final Regulations or General Notices (for ad hoc or standing advisory committee meetings).

Amendments to the Water Quality Standards regulation may be tracked through the Virginia Regulatory Town Hall. Search for Water Quality Standards

The following describes the status of rulemakings to amend the Water Quality Standards regulation.

1. Petition regarding Selenium criteria. A petition was received Apr. 26, 2023, from Clintwood JOD, LLC (CJOD) requesting that the State Water Control Board amend its Water Quality Standards (WQS) regulation (9VAC25-260) to include a site-specific freshwater aquatic life selenium criterion for several tributaries to Knox Creek in Buchanan County. The specific streams are:
   1) Race Fork and tributaries
   2) Pounding Mill Creek and tributaries
   3) Right Fork of Lester Fork and tributaries
   4) Abner’s Fork and tributaries
   A link to the Townhall webpage regarding the petition is here.

   On Aug. 23, 2023, the Board authorized staff to proceed with a rulemaking to incorporate site specific selenium criteria as a special standard in Virginia's Water Quality Standards regulation (9VAC25-260) consistent with the petition request. The intent of this rulemaking is to establish site-specific selenium aquatic life criteria which protect designated and beneficial uses of state waters by adopting regulations that are technically correct and reasonable. These site-specific criteria will be implemented in water quality programs which protect and maintain the WQS, including the Virginia Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit program and the Clean Water Act 305(b) water quality assessment report and 303(d) listing of impaired waters. The progress of this rulemaking may be tracked on the Virginia Townhall website.