NACD Annual Meeting this Week Highlighted Conservation for Water Quality and Quantity

February 12, 2020 Deirdre White

This week, the National Association of State Conservation Districts (NACD) held its Annual Meeting with participants representing state and local Conservation Districts, the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and others from around the country, as well as staff from ASDWA, GWPC, EPA, and AWWA (whose organizations are all members of the Source Water Collaborative (SWC), as well as NACD and NRCS). During the meeting, many sessions, discussion panels, and committee meetings highlighted the importance of collaboration with partners to implement agricultural and forestry conservation, innovation, and management practices that benefit water (including drinking water) quality and quantity, soil health, public health, air and carbon sequestration, and local economies.

ASDWA and the other SWC member representatives were invited to participate in the Forestry Resource Policy Group and the NRCS National Leadership Team meetings to share information about coordinating with each other to protect drinking water sources. This included discussions about how state source water protection programs can work with leading partners and Conservation Districts to prioritize source water protection areas for implementation of conservation and management practices with the:

State Forestry office and programs as part of the State Forest Action Plans;
US Forest Service and NRCS on national and private forested lands; and
NRCS on private agriculture and ranch lands to meet the 2018 Farm Bill requirement for spending 20 percent of conservation funds on protecting drinking water sources.

For more information about:

The NACD Annual Meeting, visit the website.
Coordinating on these efforts, view the two updated SWC Infographics:
- For working with NRCS State Conservationists
- For working with Conservation Districts

For more information about ASDWA’s source water protection coordination efforts with these organizations, contact Deirdre White at dwhite@asdwa.org.