Workshop offered to protect water quality

By Mike Jackson

The Texas Watershed Steward program will host a free workshop Saturday, July 15, on protecting the Eagle Mountain Lake Watershed.

The workshop, which will be open to the public, will run from 8 am to 4 pm at the Lighthouse Fellowship Church, 7200 Robertson Road, in Fort Worth.

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 and protect their water resources by becoming involved in local watershed protection and management activities, Wolfe said.

The Eagle Mountain watershed encompasses portions of Clay, Montague, Parker, Tarrant and Wise counties. 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. Harmful bacteria have risen dramatically in some streams and canals that flow to the lake, and the conditions threaten recreational activities such as swimming and boating.

“Washing your car, fertilizing your lawn or improperly disposing of pet waste can contaminate your main source of water,” Wolfe noted.

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 sufficient materials, said Jennifer Peterson, a Texas AgriLife Extension Service program water quality specialist.

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