Virginia Waste Solutions Forum

As an outgrowth of the 2005 Waste Solutions Forum, a diverse partnership- including the Shenandoah Resource and Development (RC&D) Council, Virginia Tech, the Virginia Poultry Federation, the Dairy Foundation of Virginia and others- will demonstrate a comprehensive and innovative approach to managing excess animal manure and poultry litter in the North River watershed and the Shenandoah Valley.  In May 2006, the Forum received $1 million through the Chesapeake Bay Targeted Watersheds Grants Program.  $157,000 will be used by the Shenandoah RC&D to hire a full-time, organic by-products manager.

This initiative will 1) generate revenue from manure and poultry farms via bioenergy production, 2) decrease the cost of manure transport through nutrient concentration technologies and 3) increase markets for manure. The project expects to reduce animal nitrogen pollution to the North River by over 6.3 million pounds and annual phosphorous pollution by over 6.8 million pounds.

The Forum is one of 10 projects that will reduce more than nine million pounds of nitrogen and nearly seven million pounds of phosphorous annually to the Bay. The projects reduce pollution from a range of sources and explore market-based incentives to encourage more widespread implementation of pollution-fighting programs.

The Chesapeake Bay Targeted Watersheds Grants Program provides financial and technical support to projects that expand the collective knowledge on the most innovative, sustainable and cost-effective strategies for reducing excess nutrient pollution within specific tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay.

More information is available online at http://www.chesapeakebay.net/newstargetedgrants050206.htm

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