ASDWA and GWPC Publish New Report of State Source Water Protection Program Progress on Coordinating with Agriculture and Forestry Partners

It’s Source Water Protection Week and ASDWA and the Ground Water Protection Council (GWPC) have published a new report and associated fact sheet entitled, “State Source Water Protection (SWP) Programs: A Progress Report on Agriculture and Forestry Coordination Since the Passage of the 2018 Farm Bill.” The new 16-page report continues our collective efforts to share information about the accomplishments of state SWP programs and includes challenges and tips for success with state examples of potential solutions for making further progress.

The report covers progress on key state SWP program partnering activities with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to identify priority SWP areas, identify practices for those priority areas; and connect with other state and local partners to leverage funding and implement conservation program projects. The report also shares progress on work with state foresters to include drinking water in State Forest Action Plans and work with the US Forest Service (USFS) and NRCS on forestry management.

The intended audience for the report is ASDWA and GWPC members and their state SWP programs managed by state SWP coordinators, as well as other SWP and agricultural and forestry partners. The report is based in part on the responses of 40 state SWP programs to a survey that ASDWA and GWPC conducted in the spring of 2021, and includes other information collected over the past several years through a variety of communications and meetings with our members.

For more information, download and read the report, and view the fact sheet here. For questions, please contact Deirdre White of ASDWA at dwhite@asdwa.org.