PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
January 15, 2015

CONTACT:

Patricia Sinicropi
Senior Director, Legislative Affairs
202.533.1823
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NACWA Members Receive Regional Conservation Partnership Program Funding

NACWA congratulates its members that are leading and/or participating as key partners in awarded projects in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP), announced yesterday by the Department.

“NACWA members recognize that if we are to achieve the goals of the Clean Water Act, we need the agricultural sector to undertake significant conservation efforts on the farm. We have been a strong supporter of the RCPP from the beginning because we recognize that collaborating with agricultural partners is critical to finding innovative ways to address water quality problems effectively and in a more holistic manner. NACWA members have been leading the charge to engage in new partnerships to improve water quality and the RCPP awards highlight and support the great work that these agencies are doing,” said Ken Kirk, Executive Director of NACWA.

NACWA congratulates the City of Cedar Rapids as leading partner for the Middle Cedar Partnership Project that will focus on working with local conservation partners, farmers and landowners to install best management practices such as cover crops, nutrient management, wetlands and saturated buffers to help improve water quality, water quantity and soil health in the Cedar River Watershed.

NACWA also congratulates the following NACWA members who are playing key partnership roles in the following project awards:

The Madison Metropolitan Sewage District, a key partner for the Yahara Watershed Pilot project led by the Dane County Land and Water Resources Department, will be the first in the nation to test the Watershed Adaptive Management Program – an innovative regulatory compliance option for addressing phosphorus.

In addition, the City of Columbus, OH is a participating partner in a watershed project in the Upper Big Walnut Creek watershed which supplies drinking water to the City; and, the City of Baltimore is a participating partner in the Mason-Dixon Working Lands Partnership focusing on wetlands restoration and the health of the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

The RCPP is a new program established under the 2014 Farm Bill to encourage partnerships between agricultural producers and other entities, including municipalities and wastewater authorities, to tackle water quality challenges and other natural resource problems. NACWA led the Healthy Waters Coalition of municipal water and wastewater organizations, environmental NGOs and state regulators in advocating for strengthening the links between agricultural policy and water quality during last year’s Farm Bill reauthorization debate.

In addition to the Healthy Waters Coalition effort, NACWA recently signed an Memorandum Of Understanding with the National Milk Producers Federation to collaborate on local water quality projects involving anaerobic digestion of manure and other conservation measures to help manage nutrients better on the farm. At its upcoming Winter Conference in Charleston, SC, NACWA members will focus on collaborative approaches, including collaborations involving agriculture, that are helping local communities more effectively address local water quality challenges. During the conference, NACWA is expected to release a white paper describing how collaborations with the agricultural sector are successfully improving water quality.

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NACWA represents the interests of more than 300 public agencies and organizations that have made the pursuit of scientifically based, technically sound and cost effective laws and regulations their objective. NACWA members serve the majority of the sewered population in the United States and collectively treat and reclaim more than 18 billion gallons of wastewater daily.