Using social criteria to select watersheds for non-point source agricultural pollution abatement projects

This article proposes social criteria for siting watershed-level agricultural non-point source (NPS) pollution abatement projects. A suite of indicators is introduced and a methodology is described for assessing the indicators and making a relative comparison between sites. Indicators discussed include funding availability, project interest, problem salience, and stakeholder collaboration and trust. The article concludes with a discussion of the challenges associated with measuring and comparing qualitative criteria.