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August 5, 2009

Workshop to focus on maintaining a watershed

Special to the Review

Protecting the Cedar Creek Lake watershed is the focus of an upcoming workshop in Kaufman.

The Texas Watershed Steward program will conduct the event — free to the public — on Aug. 25 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Kaufman County Library, at 3970 Houston St., Kaufman.

The Watershed Steward Program will educate property owners and other area residents on maintaining a healthy watershed, said Clint Wolfe, project manager of the North Central Texas Water Quality Project, based at the Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Center in Dallas.

The workshop was designed to help watershed residents improve their water resources by becoming involved in local watershed protection and management activities, Wolfe said.

The Cedar Creek watershed encompasses portions of Henderson, Kaufman, Rockwall and Van Zandt counties, he said. Watersheds are geographic areas that drain into common water bodies and are defined by topography, vegetation, human populations, land use and wildlife.

The workshop will enhance efforts already under way by the water quality project to improve conditions in the watershed, Wolfe said.

“This workshop will offer the public an opportunity to learn about the watershed management approach,” he said. “Water quality managers are now emphasizing the concept of overall watershed conditions as an indicator of the health of local waters.”

Watershed residents often aren’t aware that ordinary activities can contribute to pollution in their drinking water supply, Wolfe said. Increased levels of chlorophyll in Cedar Creek Reservoir indicate excessive algae caused by overly-abundant nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen that wash into the water from the watershed.

“Washing your car, fertilizing your lawn or improperly disposing of pet waste can contaminate local waters,” Wolfe said.

All participants will receive a free copy of the Texas Watershed Steward Curriculum Handbook, gifts and a certificate of completion.

More information on the project is available at http://nctx-water.tamu.edu.

Organizers are asking participants to pre-register to ensure an accurate count of materials, said Jennifer Peterson, a Texas AgriLife Extension Service water quality specialist.

For more information or to pre-register, visit the Texas Watershed Steward Web site at http://tws.tamu.edu or contact Peterson at 979-862-8072 or jpeterson@ag.tamu.edu.

The Texas Watershed Steward program is sponsored by AgriLife Extension and the Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board.

The North Central Texas Water Quality Project is run by the Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Center in Dallas and the Texas Water Resources Institute in cooperation with the Tarrant Regional Water District.

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