The Rural Clean Water Program (RCWP), a 15-year federally sponsored nonpoint source (NPS) pollution control program, was initiated in 1980 as an experimental effort to address agricultural NPS pollution problems in watersheds across the country. The RCWP is important as one of the few national NPS control programs to combine land treatment and water quality monitoring to document the effectiveness of NPS pollution control measures.

The RCWP was administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture - Consolidated Farm Services Agency (formerly Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service) in consultation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The Natural Resource Conservation Service (formerly Soil Conservation Service); Extension Service; Economic Research Service; Agricultural Research Service; U. S. Geological Survey; and many other federal, state, and local agencies also participated.

The 21 experimental RCWP projects, representing a wide range of pollution problems and impaired water uses, were located in Alabama, Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee/Kentucky, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Appropriate best management practices (BMPs) were used by producers to reduce NPS pollution from their farms. Since participation in the RCWP was voluntary, cost-share funds and technical assistance were offered to producers as incentives for using or installing BMPs.