Funding Agricultural Best Management Practices
with the Clean Water State Revolving Fund
Nonpoint Source Pollution from Agriculture
The United States has more than 330 million acres of
agricultural land that produce an abundant supply of
low-cost, nutritious food and other products. American
agriculture is noted worldwide for its high productivity,
quality, and efficiency in delivering goods to the
consumer. However, when improperly managed,
agricultural activities can affect water quality.
The most recent National Water Quality Inventory
reports that agricultural nonpoint source pollution is the
leading source of water quality impacts to surveyed rivers
and lakes, the fifth largest source of impairments to
surveyed estuaries, and also a major contributor to ground
water contamination and wetlands degradation.
Agricultural activities that cause nonpoint source pollution
include confined animal facilities, grazing, plowing,
pesticide spraying, irrigation, fertilizing, planting, and
harvesting. The major pollutants that result from these
activities are sediment, nutrients, pathogens, pesticides,
and salts. Agricultural activities also can damage habitat
and stream channels. Agricultural impacts on surface
water and ground water can be minimized by properly
managing activities that cause nonpoint source pollution.
Clean Water State Revolving Fund Programs Can
Address Agricultural Nonpoint Source Pollution
Congress created the Clean Water State Revolving Fund
(CWSRF) program to provide reduced-rate loan funding
for water quality projects of all kinds, including
agricultural best management practices. All fifty states
and Puerto Rico manage CWSRF programs that are
similar to banks. Federal and State contributions have
established CWSRF programs, and states use these
assets to provide low or no-interest loans to important
water quality projects. As borrowers repay CWSRF
loans, states use the loan repayments to fund other
important water quality projects. CWSRF programs
nationwide have more than $34 billion in assets and fund
$3-4 billion in water quality projects each year.
Many states have used their CWSRF programs to fund
agricultural best management practices. States have
provided funding for a wide variety of projects, including
waste management systems, manure spreaders,
conservation tillage equipment, irrigation equipment, filter
strips and streambank stabilization. Delaware, Minnesota,
and West Virginia provide excellent examples of how
states have used their CWSRF programs to address
agricultural nonpoint source pollution.
State Examples: Delaware, Minnesota, West Virginia
Delaware's CWSRF program targets poultry and dairy
producers. Natural Resources Conservation Service
staff (Department of Agriculture) and local conservation
district planners assist agricultural producers with needs
assessments and with project planning and design. After
individual producers have designed best management
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practices for their animal feeding operations, they can
receive low-interest loans from the CWSRF for project
implementation. Borrowers guarantee repayment of the
loans with revenue streams from poultry integrators and
dairy cooperatives. Delaware has funded more than 341
agricultural projects for more than $2.89 million.
Minnesota's Agricultural Best Management Practices
loan program is unique among CWSRF programs because
of the many partners involved in its operation. The
Minnesota Department of Agriculture manages the
program. Counties receive loans from the CWSRF, and
the counties manage agricultural loan programs at a local
level. Soil and water conservation districts assist farmers
with needs assessment and with project planning and
design. In return for a percentage of the loan interest
payments, local lending institutions (banks and farm credit
institutions) review loan applications and guarantee
repayment of each loan. Counties repay the CWSRF
using repayments from their local-level agricultural loans.
Minnesota's CWSRF program has funded more than
1,961 agricultural projects for more than $32.2 million.
West Virginia's CWSRF program provides low-interest
loans that farmers use as the cost-share match for
Department of Agriculture grant programs such as the
Environmental Quality Incentives Program. Many
partners have contributed to the success of this program.
The West Virginia Department of Agriculture manages
the program. Soil and water conservation districts assist
farmers with needs assessment and with project planning
and design. In return for a percentage of the loan interest
payments, local banks review loan applications and
For more information about the Clean Water State Revolving Fund, or for a program representative in your
State, please contact:
Clean Water State Revolving Fund Branch
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
1201 Constitution Avenue, NW (Mailcode 4204M)
Washington, DC 20004 j-r*7t Phone: (202) 564-0752 Fax: (202) 501-2403
Internet: http://www.epa.gov/owm
guarantee repayment of each loan. This program has
funded more than 174 agricultural best management
practices for more than $3.9 million.
Restriction: Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations
Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) are
large animal feeding operations that are defined by
federal statute as point sources of pollution. Because
CAFOs are privately owned point sources of pollution,
they are ineligible for financial assistance targeted to
nonpoint sources of pollution. National Estuary Programs,
however, have wide leeway to fund priority water quality
projects with the CWSRF program. For this reason,
CAFO water quality projects that are located within a
National Estuary Program study area and are included in
a National Estuary Program management plan are eligible
for CWSRF assistance.
Challenges Ahead
EPA has been encouraging states to use their CWSRF
resources to finance the widest variety of water quality
projects while addressing high priority projects in targeted
watersheds. Those interested in cleaning up polluted
runoff resulting from agricultural nonpoint sources should
seek out their CWSRF programs, gain an understanding
of how their State program works, and participate in the
annual process that determines which projects are funded.
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Office of Water October 2001 EPA 832-F-01-006
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