The Agricultural Water Quality Management (AgWQM) Area Plan, which was formally adopted in January of 2002, provides guidance for addressing agricultural water quality issues in the Molalla-Pudding-French Prairie-North Santiam Subbasins. These subbasins cover nearly all of Marion county, and portions of Linn and Clackamas counties. The plan identifies strategies to reduce water pollution from agricultural lands through a combination of education programs, suggested land treatments, management activities, and monitoring. The plan generally applies to all lands outside Urban Growth Boundaries not covered by the Forest Practices Act. The plan is based on proactive, voluntary efforts to improve water quality by agricultural producers, and was written by a group of stakeholders, the Local Advisory Committee, with the help of the Marion Soil and Water Conservation District and Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA). The plan was created in response to Senate Bill 1010, which required the reduction of pollution from agricultural sources. The plan seeks to meet the standards of the Clean Water Act without compromising economic thresholds of the local agricultural community. The District is responsible for assisting growers to meet Area Plan objectives, and the ODA is the regulatory authority to enforce minimum compliance under a complaint-driven process. Some of the minimum standards written into our local area plan refer particularly to addressing chemigated irrigation water, surface drainage and irrigation ditches, erosion prevention and sediment control, irrigation management, livestock waste management, nutrient and pesticide management, riparian management areas, and roads and staging areas. Marion SWCD is ready to assist any local stakeholders with a Voluntary Conservation Plan for their operations that meets Area Plan objectives. We also have resources and programs to assist with the costs of implementing these recommended Best Management Practices. Copies of the plan are available at the Marion SWCD office or online at ODA's website.

In 2002, Marion County, the Pudding River Watershed Council and the Marion SWCD began a Water Quality Monitoring program in the Pudding River watershed to establish known baseline water quality conditions. The Pudding basin is one of the most intensely farmed agricultural subbasins in the Willamette Valley. This program provided a means for residents to learn about their watershed, volunteers to collect data and stakeholders to have tools for future decision-making and restoration efforts. This information folded into the Water Quality chapter of the Pudding River Watershed Assessment that was completed in 2006. Because the information was collected, graded and submitted to the DEQ's LASAR database , it also was used in the 2008 Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) allocations in the Molalla/Pudding basin by the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). The TMDL calls for reductions in stream temperature and improvements in other water quality parameters in several sub-basins. The Marion SWCD also continues to run 5 automated stations where temperature is recorded that will help us to determine if we are making progress towards basin wide TMDL goals and benchmarks. The Local Advisory Committee to the AgWQMP meets periodically to review progress and water quality conditions in the District and by conducting future testing as needed, Marion SWCD can be ready to document changes in water quality.