There is significant interest in nonpoint source (NPS) pollution monitoring within California' s agricultural community. This interest reflects growers' awareness of water quality issues related to nonpoint source pollution. Regulatory agencies and citizen monitoring groups are involved in controlled monitoring studies of nonpoint source pollution in many of California' s watersheds. In most cases, this type of monitoring is beyond the finances, labor resources, technical expertise, and needs of individual growers. A simple program can be useful for self-evaluation, however, and particularly for evaluation of the effectiveness of a grower' s management practices. The purpose of this publication is to familiarize growers with the basics of self-evaluation.A valid evaluation design is necessary if you are going to identify the changes to water quality that result from modifications to farming operations. Evaluation should answer two questions:• Is water quality degraded as a result of farming operations?• If water quality is degraded, is the water quality improved by subsequent changes in farming operations?
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