USDA water quality projects and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture Conservation Effects Assessment Project watershed studies

Abstract

The first major federally-funded effort to relate effects of conservation practices to water quality was the Black Creek Project in northeastern Indiana beginning in 1975 (USEPA 1977). From 1978 to 1982, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) conducted the Model Implementation Program (MIP) to demonstrate and study the effects of addressing agricultural nonpoint source problems through Section 208 of the Clean Water Act (CWA) (NWQEP and Harbridge House 1983). Building on these early efforts, a much larger USDA- and USEPA-sponsored nonpoint source (NPS) pollution control program, The Rural Clean Water Program (RCWP), began in 1980 as an experiment to combine land treatment and water quality monitoring to document NPS control effectiveness across the country (Gale et al. 1993). The objectives of the RCWP were (1) to achieve improved water quality in the project area in the most cost-effective manner possible in keeping with the provision of adequate supplies of food, fiber, and a quality environment; (2) to assist agricultural landowners and operators in reducing agricultural NPS water pollutants and improving water quality in rural areas to meet water quality standards or water quality goals; and (3) to develop and test programs, policies, and procedures…