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Agricultural Lead Agency and other agencies engaged in nonpoint source pollution prevention 

 and abatement activities." Thus, once Micro-watershed Consortia in mixed Micro-watersheds 

 develop comprehensive water quality strategies, the State Nonpoint Source Pollution Action 

 Committee can help coordinate agricultural and non-agricultural assistance at the state level. 



National Demonstration Watersheds/National Constituency Committee 



In addition to the "planned intervention" institutional arrangement, the Act provides a framework 

 through which nonpoint source water quality criteria are developed in ecoregions across the 

 country for transfer to Targeted Watersheds within the states. Nonpoint source water quality 

 criteria may be biological, chemical or physical in nature. As mentioned above, few states have 

 developed nonpoint source water quality criteria to provide a measure of successful pollution 

 abatement in Targeted Watersheds. The task is difficult due to the temporal and spatial 

 variability of storm events and the stochastic relationship between polluted runoff and ecosystem 

 degradation. Nonetheless, the development of watershed-specific nonpoint source water quality 

 criteria is crucial for agricultural producers so that water quality amelioration can be accurately 

 gauged subsequent to the implementation of Water Quality Management Plans. Absent such 

 criteria, producers may be subject to excessive pollution-abatement demands and associated 

 costs. Depending on the level of prior pollutant loading and various physical characteristics of 

 the watershed, water quality amelioration may take several years, or even decades, to manifest 

 subsequent to the implementation of appropriate management practices. The development of 

 realistic, watershed-specific nonpoint source water quality criteria can protect agricultural 

 producers from excessive water quality expectations in the face of numerous complex variables. 



The Act establishes a series of ten National Demonstration Watershed Projects in diverse 

 ecoregions throughout the United States. The Projects provide the EPA Administrator with data 

 on which to base ecoregion-specific nonpoint source water quality criteria. The Act requires the 

 Administrator to publish final ecoregion criteria within ten years from the initiation of the 

 process. The criteria are intended for refinement and eventual application by Agricultural Lead 

 Agencies and Water Quality Regulatory Agencies in Targeted Watersheds. Both SCS and the 

 USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) are expected to play an active role in this research 

 effort due to the significant expertise these agencies have developed in recent years in the area 

 of agricultural nonpoint source pollution control. ARS physical process models are particularly 

 important for predicting pollutant loadings within Targeted Watersheds both before and after the 

 implementation of improved management practices. 



A National Constituency Committee, established in the Act, provides oversight and accountability 

 for the National Demonstration Watershed Projects and recommendations to the EPA 

 Administrator concerning Project activities and progress. The NCC is comprised of an equal 

 number of representatives of agricultural producer groups and environmental interest groups, and 

 is chaired by two United States House members and two Senate members. In addition to its 

 oversight role for the National Demonstration Watershed Projects, the NCC provides 

 recommendations to the EPA Administrator during rulemaking to implement CWA 

 reauthorization and a forum for the development of alternative environmental policy for 

 agriculture. One area where the NCC can have significant impact is in recommending measures 



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