2026 SESSION
ENROLLED
VIRGINIA ACTS OF ASSEMBLY -- CHAPTER
An Act to amend and reenact § 62.1-44.38 of the Code of Virginia, relating to certain data from water users; water use consumption for domestic, commercial, and industrial purposes and from data centers.
[S 553]
Approved
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That § 62.1-44.38 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:
§ 62.1-44.38 . Plans and programs; registration of certain data by water users; advisory committees; committee membership for federal, state, and local agencies; water supply planning assistance.
A. The Board shall prepare plans and programs for the management of the water resources of the Commonwealth in such a manner as to encourage, promote, and secure the maximum beneficial use and control thereof. These plans and programs shall be prepared for each major river basin of the Commonwealth, and appropriate subbasins therein, including specifically the Potomac-Shenandoah River Basin, the Rappahannock River Basin, the York River Basin, the James River Basin, the Chowan River Basin, the Roanoke River Basin, the New River Basin, and the Tennessee-Big Sandy River Basin, and for those areas in the Tidewater and elsewhere in the Commonwealth not within these major river basins. Reports for each basin shall be published by the Board.
B. 1. In preparing river basin plan and program reports enumerated in subsection A, the Board shall (i) estimate current water withdrawals and use for agriculture, industry, domestic use, and other significant categories of water users; (ii) project water withdrawals and use by agriculture, industry, domestic use, and other significant categories of water users; (iii) estimate, for each major river and stream, the minimum instream flows necessary during drought conditions to maintain water quality and avoid permanent damage to aquatic life in streams, bays, and estuaries; (iv) evaluate, to the extent practicable, the ability of existing subsurface and surface waters to meet current and future water uses, including minimum instream flows, during drought conditions; (v) evaluate, in cooperation with the Virginia Department of Health and local water supply managers, the current and future capability of public water systems to provide adequate quantity and quality of water; (vi) estimate, using a data-driven method that includes multiple reasonable assumptions about supply and demand over varying time frames, the risk that each locality and region will experience water supply shortfalls; and (vii) evaluate hydrologic, environmental, economic, social, legal, jurisdictional, and other aspects of each alternative management strategy identified.