USDA NRCS Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Operations (WFPO) Program

The PL-566 small watershed program, providing federal technical and financial assistance to local sponsors planning and building watershed protection, flood prevention, and water quality projects.

Authorized by the Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act of 1954 (Public Law 83-566), WFPO is the NRCS program through which local units of government sponsor watershed plans and then build the projects those plans call for. NRCS provides both technical assistance for the planning and engineering work and financial assistance toward construction. Eligible purposes cover watershed protection, flood prevention, erosion and sediment control, water quality improvement, agricultural water management, municipal and industrial water supply, fish and wildlife habitat, and public recreation. Projects are limited to watersheds of 250,000 acres or less. Because sponsorship has to come from a local organization with authority to carry out and maintain works of improvement, conservation districts, municipal authorities, and county governments are the usual applicants, and watershed associations typically participate as partners rather than as the sponsor of record. WFPO is a companion to the Watershed Rehabilitation (REHAB) program already in this library, which addresses aging dams built under the same authority. Applications are made through state NRCS offices rather than a single national announcement.