Public Comment Sought for the Draft Waits, Wells, Ompompanoosuc and Stevens River Tactical Water Quality Management Plan
WASHINGTON, D.C. – June 24, 2015 – (RealEstateRama) — On June 16th, 2015, Governor Peter Shumlin signed into law the Vermont Clean Water Act (H35). Following this action, the Agency of Natural Resources is holding three public comment meetings in July to gather feedback on the Draft Waits, Wells, Ompompanoosuc and Stevens River Tactical Water Quality Management Plan. The public is encouraged to attend the meetings, hear a presentation and offer their comments and suggestions.
Meetings will take place in the following locations. Light refreshments will be served:
Tuesday July 7, 6-7:30 pm, Fairlee Public Library, 221 North Main Street, Fairlee, VT
Wednesday July 8, 6-7:30 pm, Baldwin Memorial Library 33 Main Street, Wells River, VT
This Plan addresses several smaller watersheds including: Stevens River, Wells River, Waits River, Ompompanoosuc River and several direct tributaries to the middle Connecticut River. The Tactical Basin Plan was developed with the purpose of improving both water quality and aquatic habitats, and presents ANR’s recommendations in collaboration with other State and Federal resource agencies, watershed partner organizations, regional planning commissions, municipalities, and individual citizens.
The Plan, which was prepared in accordance with the Vermont Surface Water Management Strategy, provides an overview of the health of the basin and a description of the priority future and ongoing steps recommended to restore and protect its surface waters. The central component of this Tactical Basin Plan is an implementation table, which breaks actions intended to protect, maintain, enhance, and restore surface waters in the basin into geographical segments.
A full list of top priority actions recommended in the management plan can be accessed here.
Copies of the plan may be obtained on-line at http://www.vtwaterquality.org or by requesting a copy from the number below. The public comment period runs until July 15, 2015. Comments received by this date will be addressed in a responsiveness summary.
For further information or to submit comments please contact:
Jim Ryan, Watershed Coordinator, Watershed Management Division, VT Dept. of Environmental Conservation, 5 Perry St., Suite 80, Barre, VT 05641-4268; Phone (802) 476-0132; Email jim.ryan (at) state.vt (dot) us
Source: Department of Environmental Conservation
