Great Lakes Regional Water Program Great Lakes Regional Water

The National
Water Program
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The goal of the National Water Program, partnership of
USDA CSREES and the Land Grant Colleges and
Universities, is to protect or improve the quality of water
resources throughout the United States and its territories,
particularly in agriculturally managed watersheds. The
program seeks to address this goal at the national, regional,
state, and local levels.
The CSREES National Water Program brings university
scientists, instructors, and Extension educators into more
effective and efficient partnerships with federal interagency
priority programs to address water quality issues in
agriculture. A key emphasis of the program is integration
of extension, research, and education resources to solve
water problems at the local level.
This funding enabled the formation and linkage of 10
Regional Water Programs, which serve as the foundation
of the National Water Program. The program is guided
by a unique model for shared leadership, which includes
representatives from each of 10 regional programs (corresponding
to US Environmental Protection Agency
regions), representatives from the traditional black and
tribal Land Grant institutions, and the CSREES National
Program Leader for Water.
The National Water Program is supported by the 406
Integrated Research, Education, and Extension Competitive
Grants Program. This program is often referred to
as the “406” Program because of its legislative roots in
Section 406 of the Agricultural, Research, Education,
and Extension Reform Act of 1998 (AREERA)(7 U.S.C.
7626), the legislation that authorized the Secretary of
Agriculture to establish this competitive grants program.
The National Water Program has identified eight priority
themes for research, education, and extension projects. An
associated team of experts will address each theme on the
national scale, helping to focus the efforts of CSREES on
water quality issues. These themes are listed below:
7 Animal Waste Management
7 Drinking Water and Human Health
7 Environmental Restoration
7 Nutrient and Pesticide Management
7 Pollution Assessment and Prevention
7 Water Conservation and Agricultural
Water Management
7 Watershed Management
7 Water Policy and Economics
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