The Wisconsin Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) updated Conservation Practice Standard 635 Vegetated Treatment Area (VTA) using the Standards Oversight Council Full Process. This revised standard simplifies and limits the application of vegetated treatment areas. USDA software will be used to evaluate soil infiltration/percolation based on runoff from the 1-year, 24-hour storm event and established parameters for acceptable soil types.
In updating this technical standard, the SOC work team considered team expertise and research and evaluated the following issues related to VTAs:
- disincentives or barriers to implementation;
- siting parameters and the specific criteria for the treatment of open lot runoff from small and medium animal feeding operations; milking center wastewater; and runoff from feed storage areas; and
- software tools and technical references to complete the design.
The work team also considered input from expert and public review. For more information on the progress and process of the SOC work team, see this project-specific webpage.
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Current WI CPSs and associated guidance documents are available in the NRCS Field Office Technical Guide. Select Wisconsin, then go to Section IV > Conservation Practices > select individual standards from the alphabetical list > Practice Standard or other support documents.