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More than 16,000 miles of Virginia rivers are polluted, a new report shows. That’s up nearly 3,000 miles from the previous report two years ago.

State Department of Environmental Quality officials, however, say they don’t think rivers are getting more polluted. Rather, they say they are looking at lots of new stretches and finding that many of them are tainted, too.

“DEQ doesn’t believe the waters are getting dirtier,” said agency spokesman Bill Hayden. “We are finding pollution in areas we had not looked before. So it’s really a much more sophisticated look at statewide water quality each time we do this report.”

The draft report, announced Tuesday, is the state’s every-other-year water-quality assessment — sometimes called the “dirty waters” list.

“These impairments cost Virginians billions of dollars in lost revenues, jobs, property values and quality of life,” said Chris Moore, a senior scientist for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, an environmental group.

Moore called on Gov. Terry McAuliffe and the General Assembly to fund efforts to reduce pollution from farms, lawns and streets.