Stakeholders back Swift recharge, split over groundwater trading and permit allocation
Mission H2O and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation both welcomed SJ25 progress and Swift recharge but diverged on groundwater trading. Mission H2O urged more study of unpermitted withdrawals and model updates; the Chesapeake Bay Foundation warned trading could exacerbate pumping and argued for protecting human-consumption priorities and stricter permit reductions to actual use at reissuance.
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Stakeholders at the hearing agreed that reductions in permitted withdrawals and improved monitoring have stabilized parts of the Potomac aquifer, but they sharply disagreed about whether the Commonwealth should pursue groundwater trading as a financing or allocation tool. Andrea Wurtzel of Mission H2O described the SJ25 report as evidence of progress and said Swift recharge should be factored into future modeling and permit decisions, while calling for better data on unpermitted withdrawals.
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