The Leon River basin is adjacent to the Bosque River basin, where excess nutrients have impaired water quality. Because the Leon River basin contains similar nutrient sources, including dairies and associated manure application sites, farming and ranching sites with commercial fertilizer application, and urban runoff, stakeholders in the Leon River watershed are paying careful attention to emerging water quality issues. Agriculture has the potential to contribute to the problems of excessive nutrients and bacteria in surface water, especially if recommended management practices are not used. This project will assess the effectiveness of best management practices using organic fertilizer then educate farmers to help implement the practices.
The Upper Leon River watershed is a designated Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) Benchmark Watershed. These Benchmark Watersheds will provide in-depth data on the environmental effects of conservation practices at the field- to watershed-scale. In the Leon watershed, environmental concerns are generally associated with the management of animal byproducts and municipal wastewater, as water quality impairment results from runoff and point source discharge contaminated with pathogens and/or nutrients. The CEAP effort in this watershed will focus on agricultural nutrient management.