On January 14th, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Water Deputy Assistant Administrator, Benita Best-Wong, and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Chief, Terry Cosby, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) strengthening agency collaboration in support of voluntary conservation and management of productive agricultural lands to reduce nonpoint source pollution and improve the quality of our nation’s waterways, including those that serve as sources of drinking water.
EPA’s Office of Water has a long history of collaboration with NRCS and shared commitment to maintaining and improving the quality of our nation’s waters. This MOU formalizes the agencies’ commitment to work together and leverage the historic funding opportunities available through the 2018 Farm Bill, Inflation Reduction Act, and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to invest in shared priorities.
Through the MOU, the NRCS and the EPA Office of Water commit to maintain and strengthen their collaboration as they work toward shared goals of maintaining and improving water quality while supporting voluntary conservation and management of agricultural lands. Through this MOU, the agencies seek to:
- Engage with rural and agricultural stakeholders on opportunities to pursue and accelerate voluntary conservation investments focused on improving water quality,
- Enhance regional, state, local, and Tribal capacity to accelerate conservation investments for water quality,
- Leverage resources and funding to assist agricultural communities in adopting conservation practices that benefit water quality,
- Collaborate to expand leveraging opportunities between EPA and NRCS Tribal assistance programs to support Tribal water quality programs, and
- Share data and establish common, data driven approaches to improve EPA and USDA program performance and communicate water quality outcomes and successes.
To learn more and view a copy of the MOU, please visit EPA’s webpage:
