Albemarle County’s Water Protection Ordinance (WPO) was first enacted in 1998 to help improve and protect water quality throughout the county.  The WPO includes regulations specific to riparian buffers and the activities that are permitted within them.  Albemarle County’s Zoning Ordinance 4.3 also restricts tree removal adjacent to perennial streams and water supply impoundments throughout the county. To learn more, visit Riparian Buffer Requirements.

The WPO was most recently revised in 2024 to reflect the state’s criteria in its Virginia Erosion and Stormwater Management Program (VESMP) and Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (VPDES).  To learn more about the programs Albemarle County administers to meet these regulatory mandates, visit Water Resource Protection. 

The Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act (Bay Act), which was enacted in 1988 to protect the Chesapeake Bay, its tributaries, and other state waters, has also influenced the County’s water resource protection policies.  Albemarle County lies within the larger Chesapeake Bay watershed, but is located outside of the area regulated by the Bay Act (84 localities of Tidewater Virginia).   The Bay Act enables localities outside of the Tidewater to voluntarily adopt provisions of the law to help protect downstream waters, and as a result, Albemarle County has incorporated some of these provisions into its Water Protection Ordinance.