Priority Area 4:
Clean Water Act (CWA) Nonpoint Source Report

Congress amended the Clean Water Act (CWA) in 1987 to establish the Section 319 Nonpoint Source Management Program. Under Section 319, state, territories, and tribes receive grants to support a wide variety of activities including technical assistance, financial assistance, education, training, technology transfer, demonstration projects, and monitoring to assess the success of specific nonpoint source implementation projects. More information on the allocation of these grants is available on EPA’s Nonpoint Source Pollution Web site.  Section 319 grant funds are eligible for inclusion in state Performance Partnership Grants (PPG). 

Iowa, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Oklahoma expressed concerns about various elements of CWA Section 319 grant reporting, including report length, reporting period, report duplication, and varying report deadlines.

As stated in EPA’s recent FY2009 National Program Guidance for the Office of Water, EPA and the states need to continue to effectively implement and better integrate programs established under the CWA to protect, improve, and restore water quality on a watershed basis. Regions have the flexibility to emphasize various parts of core national programs and modify targets to meet EPA Region and state needs and conditions.  Among the key tasks identified in the Program Guidance is the goal to implement practices to reduce pollution from all nonpoint sources.  Many of the details of report frequency, length, and deadline are established at a Regional level. 

Region 6 worked with Oklahoma to streamline and shorten its annual report.  Region 7 and Iowa negotiated new terms for the FY2008-2009 PPG for more uniformity in reporting timelines.  Region 1 clarified that nonpoint source data has been requested more frequently in the past but now is only required on an annual basis.  Similar to Region 7, Region 2 worked with the State of New Jersey to find opportunities to streamline reporting requirements and deadlines.  More detail on these regional responses can be viewed in further detail at Recommendation W22 and Recommendation W24.  Additional information on Section 319 grant reporting is available in Priority Area 10.