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Nominations for Water Conservation Advisory Council sought

The Texas Water Development Board is seeking nominations for members to serve on the Water Conservation Advisory Council. The 80th Legislature directed the TWDB to establish the council to serve as an expert resource to state government and the public on water conservation in Texas. The deadline for council recommendations is July 31. Each nomination [...]

July 9th, 2007 | Posted in Uncategorized
Agriculture staff, research team recognized with awards

A TWRI project and several TWRI and Texas A&M Agriculture staff who work closely with TWRI were recently recognized with several prestigious awards for contributions to the workplace, research and education. The Rio Grande Basin Initiative (RGBI) Research Team, Patricia “Patt” Junek, Robert “Bob” Whitney and Dr. C. Allan Jones were awarded Vice Chancellor’s Awards [...]

February 6th, 2007 | Posted in Uncategorized
Water research and education funding workshop set during Agriculture Conference

The Texas Water Resources Institute (TWRI) will hold a workshop, “Funding Your Water Research/Education Program: One-on-One with Water Agencies,” in conjunction with the annual Texas A&M Agriculture Conference in College Station. The conference is scheduled for Monday, Jan. 8, 2007 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. with additional time allotted for individual discussions from 4 [...]

January 5th, 2007 | Posted in Uncategorized
Agreement signed to commercialize desalination technology

Representatives from the Global Petroleum Research Institute (GPRI) of the Texas Engineering Experiment Station, the Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering at Texas A&M University and The Texas A&M University System Office of Technology Commercialization signed an agreement Monday (Oct. 23) to commercialize a desalination process technology with GeoPure Water Technologies LLC.
Signing the agreement are [...]

October 24th, 2006 | Posted in Uncategorized
Saltcedar beetles successfully introduced near Big Spring

Saltcedar beetles introduced to help control the water-consuming, invasive saltcedar tree along the Upper Colorado River have defoliated 18 acres of a saltcedar stand, an increase in defoliation of 10 times each year for 3 years, according to a researcher involved in the project.
“We expect the beetles to begin actually killing trees in 2 more [...]

September 25th, 2006 | Posted in Uncategorized
Perry: Environmental Efforts to Focus on Trinity River Basin

View video coverage from CBS News
Perry promises money to help Trinity water quality
ARLINGTON – Gov. Rick Perry announced today a major environmental initiative on the Trinity River to improve its ecosystem and water quality. More than $500,000 in state seed money and in-kind contributions is being made available to the Trinity River Basin Environmental Restoration [...]

September 5th, 2006 | Posted in Uncategorized
Fact sheets available on technologies to reduce phosphorus runoff

By Courtney Swyden
Going into its second year of evaluating new technologies, Texas Cooperative Extension and Texas Water Resources Institute are collaborating to reduce high levels of phosphorus runoff from two Central Texas watersheds. The New Technologies for Animal Waste Pollution Control project, funded through a 319 grant from the Texas State Soil and Water Conservation [...]

August 28th, 2006 | Posted in Uncategorized
Texas Water Resources Institute establishes office to analyze critical water issues

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 [...]

July 17th, 2006 | Posted in Uncategorized
Partnering with the Military

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 [...]

June 29th, 2006 | Posted in Uncategorized
Project wins environment award

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 [...]

June 29th, 2006 | Posted in Uncategorized
Texas Gold Rush

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 [...]

June 29th, 2006 | Posted in Uncategorized
Natural Predator

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 [...]

June 29th, 2006 | Posted in Uncategorized
Every Drop Counts

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 [...]

June 29th, 2006 | Posted in Uncategorized
A Piece of the Puzzle

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 [...]

June 29th, 2006 | Posted in Uncategorized
Saving an Underground Reservoir

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 [...]

June 29th, 2006 | Posted in Uncategorized