News

Water Quality Index tool being developed

The USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service is testing a tool that would help farmers calculate runoff from their fields.

Ann Mills, Deputy Undersecretary for Natural Resources and Environment, tells Brownfield she’s excited about the new Water Quality Index for Agricultural Runoff (WQI).

Mills says, “It’s basically an easy-to-use online tool that can be used by farmers to evaluate how effective their conservation practices are. It’s not a substitute for monitoring but it’s a really, we think, start to giving a lot of producers the tool they need to make some initial calculations.”

The Water Quality Index will help assess the water quality of surface water and establish trends over time. It is being piloted by NRCS employees who are being trained to use it. It would become available to producers once the piloting process is complete.