Friday, November 8, 2024

Aggie water experts visit Azle

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AZLE — The Azle Memorial Library hosted a half-day class Oct. 15 that brought together experts from all subjects concerning water.

The seminar, organized by the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension and the Texas Watershed Steward Program, covered various aspects of watershed stewardship, including pollution, water quality and public engagement. Michael Kuitu, a program specialist from the Department of Soil & Crop Sciences at Texas A&M was joined by other experts to lead talks on everything water. Katie Myers from Tarrant Regional Water District used the event to drum up stakeholder involvement for the Eagle Mountain Lake Watershed Protection Plan, which is currently being re-written.

Practical measures like rainwater capture, constructed wetlands and low-flow products were highlighted. The seminar also addressed household chemical disposal, overwatering prevention and the importance of water quality management in urban and agricultural settings. Attendees included city planners, agricultural producers and interested lay citizens, underscoring the program's broad relevance.

City of Azle Director of Planning & Development David Hawkins and Jimmy Duvall, stormwater manager, both attended the event. Hawkins said it served as a useful way to earn continuing education credit hours, make connections and refresh on the basics of water stewardship and conservation.

“It gave information dealing with everything from the local farmers to the guys installing septic systems to the guys that are doing the building and developing,” Duvall said. “It told them all, if you're not careful, this is how you have negative impacts. So, it's a pretty good class overall.”

The Texas Watershed Steward Program is grant funded through the Environmental Protection Agency and the Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board. Classes for the program come at no cost for the attendees.

“We hope that we try to design this curriculum in a way that people can take it home and actually use it,” Kuiti said.

He continued by saying he hopes people can also use the information at work and in their wider community as well.

“We had one individual I know that took a couple extra of our curriculum packets because he knew of people in his community group that would be actually interested in that and who were trying to decide what to do, and that particular curriculum would kind of help them guide through that process.”