Archive for 2006
- Texas Water Resources Institute establishes office to analyze critical water issues
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The Texas Water Resources Institute recently established the Office of Strategic Water Issues to provide non-biased, science-based analyses of critical water issues facing Texas, according to Allan Jones, the institute’s director.
Jones said the office will develop consensus recommendations and communicate these to policy and decision makers to help them make informed decisions on these complicated [...] - University of Texas student researched environmental flow model
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By Courtney Swyden
Marc Russell, a former University of Texas marine sciences graduate student, and advising professor, Dr. Paul Montagna, developed a hydrological/biological model to determine the effects that freshwater inflow has on an estuarine function.
An estuary is freshwater inflow mixing with salt water. The function, productivity and impairment of an estuarine ecosystem are linked to [...] - Graduate student assesses accuracy of Soil and Water Assessment Tool
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By Courtney Swyden
Texas A&M University graduate student Xuesong Zhang is working with his advising professor Raghavan Srinivasan, director of Texas A&M’s Spatial Sciences Laboratory, to evaluate and improve the accuracy and reliability of the SWAT model or Soil and Water Assessment Tool. SWAT, developed by USDA-Agricultural Research Service and Blackland Research and Extension Center in [...] - Partnering with the Military
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Agriculture uses compost to restore Fort Hood’s training lands
Texas Agricultural Experiment Station researchers have partnered with Fort Hood personnel to identify a natural “weapon” to restore the facility’s tank training areas—land and soils seriously eroded, compacted and stripped of the most desirable vegetation by the repeated pounding of 70-ton tanks.
After three years of studies, researchers [...] - Project wins environment award
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The Fort Hood Range Revegetation Pilot Project, a joint project of the Texas Water Resources Institute and the Blackland Research and Extension Center, won the 2006 Texas Environmental Excellence Award for Agriculture. The award, sponsored by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and Gov. Rick Perry, was presented to the project staff at the agency’s [...]
- Texas Gold Rush
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Scientists seek to understand and control golden alga
A free-floating microscopic alga is increasingly appearing in some Texas lakes and rivers, releasing its deadly toxins and wiping out millions of fish. Texas scientists have taken on the assignment of understanding the culprit and developing strategies for its control.
Golden alga, or Prymnesium parvum, was first identified in [...] - Natural Predator
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Foreign beetle shows promise for controlling saltcedar
In the northern part of the Texas Panhandle and along the West Texas banks of the Colorado and Pecos rivers, Texas scientists are successfully introducing a foreign beetle to help control an invasive and exotic water-thirsty plant.
Saltcedar, or Tamarix, was introduced to the western United States in the 1800s [...] - Every Drop Counts
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Rio Grande initiative expands efficient irrigation, water conservation
Since its inception in 2001, the Rio Grande Basin Initiative (RGBI) has achieved significant water savings and accomplishments. A joint effort of Texas A&M Agriculture and New Mexico State University College of Agriculture and Home Economics, the initiative’s nine research and education tasks address efficient irrigation and water [...] - A Piece of the Puzzle
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Transporting dairy compost helps in water quality solutions
Transporting dairy manure from Central Texas dairy farms and turning it into marketable, quality compost is a “piece of the puzzle” in finding solutions to improve water quality in the North Bosque River and Leon River watersheds.
Approximately 148 dairies with more than 98,000 cows operate in these two [...] - Saving an Underground Reservoir
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Scientists partner to document efficient use
A visitor to the Central and Southern High Plains of the United States can gaze upon field after field of crops and rangelands for cattle—the sources of a significant part of the region’s agricultural economy. Though the area has few rivers and lakes, underneath it lies a supply of water [...] - Be Water Smart
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Conservation program incorporates rain gardens
WaterSmart, a water conservation program, uses a unique approach to protect and conserve water quality and quantity in upper Texas Gulf Coast urban landscapes.
Part of the Texas Coastal Watershed Program (TCWP),WaterSmart is creating rain gardens as just one method of demonstrating how water conservation can function in an attractive landscape.
In December [...] - Cooperating for Cleaner Water
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The Leon River TMDL Process
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), working with a local stakeholder group and others in the Leon River Watershed, is developing a Total Maximum Daily Load, or TMDL, for bacteria, one of the first TMDLs for bacteria in the state.
In 2002, the TCEQ determined that the water quality for [...] - Student researches flood alert system for Austin
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By Courtney Swyden
Former Rice University civil and environmental engineering graduate student Erin Williford tested various hydrologic models to create a framework for a real-time, radar-based flood alert system for the Onion Creek watershed in Austin, Texas.
“Emergency personnel and citizens can have advanced warning and accurate lead time during a large storm that will hopefully prevent [...] - Graduate student assesses accuracy of Soil and Water Assessment Tool
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By Courtney Swyden
Texas A&M University international graduate student Xuesong Zhang is working with his advising professor Raghavan Srinivasan, director of Texas A&M’s Spatial Sciences Laboratory, to evaluate and improve the accuracy and reliability of the SWAT model or Soil and Water Assessment Tool. SWAT, developed by the Spatial Sciences Laboratory, is a water model used [...] - Graduate students receive water research grants
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Texas Water Resources Institute (TWRI) recently funded 10 water-related research projects for graduate students from Texas A&M University, Texas Tech University, the University of Texas at Austin and West Texas A&M University.
The students were awarded up to $5,000 to begin, expand, or extend water-related research projects. TWRI received more than 30 applications in response to [...]
