Department of Ecology
Committees, Boards, and Workgroups

Washington’s Plan to Control Nonpoint Sources of Pollution and Voluntary Clean Water Guidance for Agriculture Chapters

Washington’s Water Quality Management Plan to Control Nonpoint Sources of Pollution (Nonpoint Plan) is a document that outlines Washington State’s approach for addressing water quality impacts from nonpoint sources of pollution. This is an important document used to guide Ecology and our partners work to meet Clean Water Act requirements and protect and improve water quality across the state. Ecology submitted an updated Nonpoint Plan to EPA in December 2022 and is currently awaiting approval.

As part of the Nonpoint Plan we are also developing Voluntary Clean Water Guidance for Agriculture (VCWGA). The guidance is a technical resource for agricultural producers that describes Ecology’s recommended best management practices (BMPs) to protect water quality. The first four chapters of this guidance document underwent tribal and public review and were submitted to EPA with our updated Nonpoint Plan in 2022.

For more information, please visit the Stormwater and Runoff webpage and the Voluntary Clean Water Guidance for Agriculture webpage.

We are holding a public review for the Livestock Management-Animal Confinement, Manure Handling & Storage from June 5 – 23, 2022. We are inviting tribes to review and provide early input on the draft updates, prior to start of the public review.

The following VCWGA chapter is now available for review:

• Livestock Management-Animal Confinement, Manure Handling, & Storage

Note: During the tribal review period, the implementation section of this chapter was updated based on feedback from the implementation workgroup. Please use the updated draft above for your review.

The chapter is due to EPA June 30, 2023. We plan to complete all chapters by 2025.

As part of the review process, we will be holding a tribal webinar June 7, 2023 from 9:00 to 10:30 a.m. to provide an overview of the draft chapter and answer questions. You can register for the webinar on Zoom at any time. If you cannot make the tribal webinar, a similar presentation will be given at a public webinar June 14 from 9:00 to 10:30 a.m.. You can register for the public webinar on Zoom any time.

Please provide formal comments no later than June 23. 2023 using our online comment platform.

If your tribe would like to meet with Ecology to discuss the draft chapter, please contact Ben Rau, at benr461@ecy.wa.gov.