DATE: Tuesday, May 27, 1997                 TAG: 9705270079

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B10  EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: RICHMOND                          LENGTH:   54 lines

MOVE TO RELAX RULES ON POLLUTANTS IN RIVERS REVERSED BY STATE AGENCY

The state is withdrawing several proposals to change standards that protect Virginia's rivers after reviewing new studies and receiving a flood of outraged letters.

The state Department of Environmental Quality said last week it is scaling back plans to change standards for pollutants including fecal bacteria, chlorine and a toxic boat paint called TBT. The agency also is extending until June 14 the period during which the public can comment. ``DEQ's technical staff is making these proposals based on the latest scientific information available,'' said Thomas L. Hopkins, the agency's director.

The proposals a year ago drew nearly 600 letters, most in opposition. The debate centers on the DEQ's efforts to update rules called water-quality standards. The standards set specific concentrations for about 100 pollutants that are allowed in rivers.

Here are some of the original proposals to change the standards and the new proposals.

Chlorine. The DEQ last year proposed lifting the chlorine ban on some trout streams and waters containing endangered species, mainly in western Virginia. The DEQ now proposes retaining the ban.

Fecal bacteria. Under current rules, the standard for fecal bacteria is 1,000 bacteria per 100 milliliters of water. The agency had proposed relaxing that number but the latest proposals retain the current limit.

TBT. The current standard is no more than 26 parts per trillion of tributylin in fresh water and one part per trillion of salt water. The previous proposal retained the numbers but said they could not be exceeded in a four-day average. That would have allowed some concentrations above the current limits.

Agency officials still propose that standard, but they now are proposing an added standard that could not be violated for even one day - 460 parts per trillion in fresh water and 360 parts in salt water.

Staunton River. The previous proposal would have removed the stretch of river between the Leesville Lake dam and the Kerr Reservoir from the list of public water supplies, which gives a higher level of protection. This proposal drew the most opposition and the new proposals keep the Staunton on the water-supply list.

Scenic rivers. The previous proposals deleted a listing of Virginia's scenic rivers from the water-quality regulations. State officials said other regulations already deal with the rivers but critics feared the rivers would get less protection. The new proposals keep the scenic river list ``for informational purposes only.''

Copper. Now, as last year, standards designed to protect marine life from this toxic metal would be relaxed slightly.

The DEQ will review the letters it gets during the extended public-comment period and could further modify the new proposed standards. KEYWORDS: WATER POLLUTION

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