The Kentucky Nonpoint Source (NPS) Pollution Control Program goals are to protect the quality of Kentucky’s surface and groundwater from NPS pollutants, abate NPS threats and restore degraded waters to the extent that water quality standards are met and beneficial uses are supported.

The Kentucky Nonpoint Source Pollution Control Program is achieving these goals through federal, state, local and private partnerships that promote complementary, regulatory and nonregulatory nonpoint source pollution control initiatives at both statewide and watershed levels.

The Kentucky Nonpoint Source Pollution Control Program is currently authorized under §319 of the Clean Water Act (CWA) amendments of 1987. The CWA amendments of 1987 deal with a wide variety of pollutants that enter the water by sources other than a point source discharge. Conflicts over the use of public waters are inevitable and likely to increase as population and demands for water increase. It is clear, however, that management strategies are critical in reconciling varied but equally important uses. Protection of water quality to support designated uses is the key component of management strategies, whether for point or nonpoint sources of pollution.