Can nonsville Reservoir and Town Brook watersheds: Documenting conservation efforts to protect New York City's drinking water

The Cannonsvifle Reservoir watershed is a major component of the unfiltered New York City water suppiy system. The voluntary, incentive-based Watershed Agricultural Program is a collaborative effort among producers, federal, state, and local organizations to address the problem of phosphorus loading effects on water quality through implementation of whole-farm plans. The effectiveness of selected conservation practices, including streambank fencing, precision feeding, and the use of cover crops with silage corn (7-ca mays L.) are being evaluated. Sinmlation models have been developed and improved to evaluate the effectiveness of individual conservation practices and better assess aninial agriculture and manure management practices.. Conservation practices implemented through the Watershed Agricultural Program are resulting in lower phosphorus loading from nonpoint sources in the watershed. Future efforts need to identife the most cost-effective conservation practices and extend our knowledge of watershed quality protection beyond the boundaries of the Cannonsville Reservoir watershed.