Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio) introduced legislation on January 29 aimed at protecting sources of drinking water by reducing topsoil runoff from agricultural lands. The Collaborative Water and Soil Enhancement Act (H.R. 4892) could eventually find a place in the larger Farm Bill that Congress is expected to write this year.
According to a summary from Rep. Fudge’s office, the bill would direct the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to use the Conservation Stewardship Program and the Environmental Quality Incentives Program to annually place at least five million acres under nutrient and soil health management plans, with a focus on watersheds with the highest levels of nutrient runoff into hypoxic areas. This action would give agricultural producers additional financial incentives to undertake nutrient and soil health management activities.
Other parts of the bill would reserve at least ten percent of Conservation Stewardship Program and Environmental Quality Incentives Program funds for use on source water protection efforts, and direct USDA to work with drinking water systems to identify “local priority areas” for drinking water source protection in each state.
Rep. Fudge serves on the House Agriculture Committee, which is expected write a larger Farm Bill that Congress will consider later this year. She is expected to attempt to include a version of H.R. 4892 in the larger legislation.