{"data":{"id":"us-ky/krs-224.71-110","jurisdiction":"us-ky","citation":"KRS 224.71-110","heading":"Agriculture Water Quality Authority -- Membership -- Responsibilities.","body":"(1) The Agriculture Water Quality Authority is created and administratively attached to\nthe cabinet. The authority shall be a multidiscipline peer group that shall evaluate,\ndevelop, and improve best-management practices in conservation plans, compliance\nplans, and forest stewardship management plans; establish statewide and regional\nagriculture water quality plans; and otherwise promote soil and water conservation\nactivities that protect waters of the Commonwealth from the adverse impacts of\nagriculture operations within the Commonwealth. The cabinet shall provide staff to\nthe authority.\n(2) Within six (6) months of July 15, 1994, the Soil and Water Conservation\nCommission shall submit to the Governor for appointment to the Agriculture Water\nQuality Authority a list of three (3) persons recommended by each of the following\nstate agencies and organizations:\n(a) Kentucky Association of Conservation Districts;\n(b) Kentucky Department of Agriculture;\n(c) University of Kentucky College of Agriculture Cooperative  Extension\nService;\n(d) Kentucky Farm Bureau Federation, Inc.;\n(e) Division of Conservation, Energy and Environment Cabinet;\n(f) Division of Forestry, Energy and Environment Cabinet;\n(g) Kentucky Geological Survey; and\n(h) Environmental organizations.\nThe membership of the Agriculture Water Quality Authority appointed by the\nGovernor shall consist of one (1) representative from each of the groups identified\nin paragraphs (a) to (h) of this subsection and three (3) members at large from\nagriculture operations. The Soil and Water Conservation Commission shall solicit\nnominations from Kentucky agriculture operations organizations and submit those\nnames to the Governor for selection of the three (3) members at large from\nagriculture operations. The Governor shall select four (4) members to serve two (2)\nyear initial terms, four (4) members to serve three (3) year initial terms, and three\n(3) members to serve four (4) year initial terms. All succeeding terms shall be four\n(4) year terms. A representative from the  Natural Resources Conservation Service\nand a representative from the United States Department of Agriculture Farm Service\nAgency may also be appointed by the Governor to serve on the authority. One (1)\nrepresentative each from the Division of Water, Energ y and Environment Cabinet\nand the Department for Public Health, Cabinet for Health and Family Services shall\nserve as ex officio members.\n(3) It shall be the responsibility of the Agriculture Water Quality Authority to establish,\nat a minimum, the followin g four (4) committees for agriculture operations, with\nmembership outside the Agriculture Water Quality Authority:\n(a) Livestock and poultry;\n(b) Crops, including but not limited to tobacco, corn, soybeans, small grains,\nfruits and vegetables, pasture and timber;\n(c) Pesticides, fertilizers, and other agricultural chemicals; and\n(d) Farmstead issues.\n(4) The Agriculture Water Quality Authority shall have the following responsibilities:\n(a) Review water quality data as available;\n(b) Review university research on water quality and alternative best -management\npractices research;\n(c) Evaluate the adoption and effectiveness of best -management practices, and\nmodify best-management practice design standards to improve water quality\nprotection practices;\n(d) Develop by July 1, 1996, statewide agriculture water quality plans to address\nidentifiable water pollution problems from agriculture operations, and\ncontinue to evaluate and modify the agriculture water quality plans, as\nnecessary to prevent water pollution from agriculture operations;\n(e) Assist with the review of state-funded and other water quality monitoring data\nand with the establishment of agriculture water priority protection regions;\n(f) Provide technical assistance to persons eng aged in agriculture operations and\nto the Soil and Water Conservation Commission in its efforts to coordinate\nwater quality protection as related to agriculture operations;\n(g) Work with the Natural Resources Conservation Service, United States\nDepartment of Agriculture Farm Service Agency, and conservation districts to\ndisseminate to agriculture operations the best -management practices,\nconservation plans, compliance plans, forest stewardship management plans,\nand agriculture water quality plans which addr ess the protection of\ngroundwater and surface water;\n(h) Provide the Governor and the Legislative Research Commission with biennial\nreports of the progress of the Agriculture Water Quality Authority program;\nand\n(i) Establish procedures for modifications t o be incorporated into statewide or\nregional agriculture water quality plans.\n(5) The cabinet's Division of Water shall approve or disapprove any statewide and\nregional water quality plan within thirty (30) days of receiving the plan from the\nAgriculture Water Quality Authority. All provisions of a statewide or regional water\nquality plan not found deficient shall be approved. If the Division of Water finds\nany provision of the statewide or regional agriculture water quality plan deficient,\nthe Division of Water shall give written notice to the authority of those provisions\nfound to be deficient. Within the thirty (30) days following the notice of deficiency,\nthe authority shall deliver to the Division of Water a written response setting forth\nproposed solut ions to the deficiencies. Any deficiencies which remain unresolved\nshall be resolved in a manner agreed to jointly by the Division of Water and the\nauthority within sixty (60) days unless the Division of Water and authority jointly\nagree to an extension or  alternate dispute resolution. The Division of Water shall\napprove or disapprove all modifications to the statewide and regional plans as set\nforth at KRS 224.71-120(8).","path":[],"source_url":"https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=48728","current_through":"Includes enactments through the 2026 Regular Session","vintage":"09/05/2026","retrieved_at":"2026-09-05T20:52:42Z","sha256":"0d18aaab25bb8c1d7d9f0bbfc1af596d8e8ade74d59a76465225b6174bffd953","source_id":"us-ky","stale":false,"prev":"us-ky/krs-224.71-100","next":"us-ky/krs-224.71-120"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}