Upper
New River SWAP
What is the…
Upper New River Source Water Assessment Program
The Federal Environmental Protection Agency and the Virginia Department of Health, in response to the 1996 amendments to the Safe Water Drinking Act, require each state to develop a Source Water Assessment Plan (SWAP) that will delineate boundaries of an assessment area and identify possible contaminants and determine the susceptibility of the public water systems in that area.
The SWAP program is an assessment of potential land activities and sources of potential contamination that could negatively impact the Upper New River and it’s watershed. The EPA’s designation of the ‘Upper New River’ includes the river’s source in North Carolina downstream to the Montgomery/Giles County line. However, since this particular document is being prepared for submittal to the Virginia Department of Health it only includes the Virginia portion of the Upper New River watershed.
The Upper New River SWAP encompasses portions of eight counties, two cities (Galax, and Radford) and numerous towns and communities. The SWAP is a periodically updated document that contains not only information regarding potential sources of contamination to the river, but also information about the river itself and communities within the watershed. Municipalities, emergency response agencies, business groups, recreational organizations and the general public will be able to utilize this information.
A one-page project flyer was distributed at the New River Watershed Roundtable meeting and is available here.
Surf Your Watershed
at the EPA
