Your Voice Your Community

Actions

Watch Powering Virginia, June 2017

Posted at 12:00 AM, Jun 17, 2017
and last updated 2017-06-18 23:33:05-04

Here are the links mentioned on “Powering Virginia,” which aired on CBS 6 on June 19.

Part 1: Rain Gardens, Dry Wells and Native Planting

Water moving across paved surfaces, lawns and golf courses picks up natural and human-made pollutants dropping them into Virginia’s waterways. Slowing down and filtering this runoff using a variety of strategies, like rain gardens, dry wells, native planting and more creates an opportunity for improving the water quality as it moves thorough Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay Watershed. The Virginia Conservation Assistance Program is an urban cost-share program providing financial incentives, up to 75% of cost share, for property owners to install ‘best management practices’ in Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay Watershed.

Virginia Conservation Assistance Program — http://vaswcd.org/vcap
Henricopolis Soil &Water Conservation District –http://www.henrico.us/swcd

Part 2:  Soil Testing 

A lush, healthy yard may be easier and less costly than you’re making it thanks to a simple test. Soil testing offers property owners a look at what will make their plants happy and healthy offering a customized analysis of missing soil nutrients. When you know what’s missing you can target putting those specific nutrients back in rather than blanketing the area with unnecessary fertilizer that ultimately makes its way down drains polluting Virginia’s waterways. The Henricropolis Soil and Water Conservation District offers the soil test voucher program for homeowners to test their soil for free.

Henricopolis Soil &Water Conservation District – http://www.henrico.us/swcd

Part 3:  Oyster Shell Recycling Program

The Virginia Oyster Shell Recycling Program, a program of VCU Rice Rivers Center, went planting on the Piankatank River. The goal – to help restore wild oyster populations, improve water quality and provide new fish habitat. More than 300 bushels of shell collected from area restaurants and businesses was cleaned and seeded with baby oysters. Thanks to the program and the tireless work of volunteers, those 750,000 spat-seeded shells are now hard at work growing into an important filtration system for Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay.

Virginia Oyster Shell Recycling Program – http://ricerivers.vcu.edu/community-engagement/oyster-shell-recycling/