Discharge deleterious substance in state waters; notice to citizens if detrimental to public health.

Discharge of deleterious substance into statewaters; notice. Decreases from 24 hours to eight hours the timeframe for any person who unlawfully discharges any deleterious substanceinto state waters to give notice to the Director of the Departmentof Environmental Quality (DEQ) or the local coordinator of emergencyservices. The bill also requires DEQ to give the reported dischargeinformation to the Virginia Department of Health, local newspapers,television stations, and radio stations, and disseminate via commonlyused social media platforms and email notification lists within eighthours of receipt of such information. Current law only requires certainof these disclosures and only when the Virginia Department of Healthdetermines that the discharge may be detrimental to the public healthor the State Water Control Board determines that the discharge mayimpair beneficial uses of state waters. The bill also requires theDepartment of Environmental Quality, if the Virginia Department ofHealth determines that the discharge may be detrimental to the publichealth, to provide information regarding such determination to thesame recipients within eight hours of receipt of such determination.