Memorandum of Understanding Between the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and EPA Office of Water
Memorandum Of Understanding Between the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and EPA Office of Water (OW)
On January 7, 2025, the EPA Office of Water and USDA National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) signed a memorandum of understanding 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. 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.
Read the 2025 NRCS-EPA OW MOU (pdf) .