Clean Water Guidance Advisory Group

Clean Water Guidance complete

We have finished the remaining chapters of the Clean Water Guidance and submitted the full document to EPA along with the recent Nonpoint Plan update. As part of this work, we reorganized the guidance based on public comments and feedback from our advisory group to make it easier to use.

You can read the focus sheet to learn more about the guidance and our practice recommendations.

How we developed the guidance

We established this advisory group to help us identify and describe practices that support healthy farms and help farmers to meet clean water standards. The advisory group included members from a variety of groups, see the workgroup lists below for all of the members and their affiliations.

Members reviewed and provided feedback that ultimately helped shape the guidance. Specifically, they helped us recomend different best management practices (BMPs) and help guide recommendations to mitigate costs and reduce barriers to implementing the practices.

In 2022, after receiving and reviewing public comments, we finalized the first set of chapters and submitted them to EPA. To give people as much time as possible to review chapters, we released draft chapters on a rolling basis from June through October 2025. We held an informational webinar in November 2025 and finalized the chapters and submitted it to EPA at the end of 2025. 

For more details about how we developed the guidance, see the Process Design document.

Completed guidance is in two parts

During public review, both the public and our advisory group told us the guidance needed to be easier to use. In response, we reorganized it and placed all BMP recommendations in one document: Recommended Best Management Practices. Both the Recommended Best Management Practices and the Appendix are organized using the chapters listed below. For more information, visit our Nonpoint Plan & guidance page.

• Recommended Best Management Practices: contains the introduction, a guide for selecting practices (including suites of practices), and all site‑specific practice recommendations. 

• Appendix: provides additional information on how effective the practices are and what to consider during implementation. 

Guidance chapters

1. Cropping Methods: Tillage & Residue Management
2. Livestock Management — Pasture & Rangeland Grazing
3. Sediment Control: Soil Stabilization & Sediment Capture (Structural)
4. Riparian Areas & Surface Water Protection
5. Livestock Management — Animal Confinement, Manure Handling, & Storage 
6. Cropping Methods: Crop System 
7. Nutrient Management
8. Pesticide Management
9. Sediment Control: Soil Stabilization & Sediment Capture (Vegetative)
10. Water Management: Irrigation Systems & Management
11. Water Management: Field Drainage & Drain Tile Management
12. Water Management: Stormwater Control & Diversion 
13. Suite of Recommended Practices