Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service’s Healthy Lawns and Healthy Waters Program will host a residential rainwater harvesting and turf management training August 6 for Hays and Blanco Counties.
The free event will be online from 1–5 p.m. Participation is limited. Online registration is required. Attendees can RSVP online or contact John Smith, AgriLife Extension program specialist, College Station, at johnwsmith@tamu.edu or 979-204-0573. Those who RSVP to the event will receive updates, instructions to join the online meeting and materials related to the meeting via email.
The training is offered in collaboration with the Cypress Creek Watershed Partnership.
The Healthy Lawns and Healthy Waters Program aims to improve and protect surface water quality by enhancing awareness and knowledge of best management practices for residential landscapes, Smith said.
Dr. Becky Grubbs, AgriLife Extension urban water specialist, Dallas, said attendees will learn about the design and installation of residential rainwater harvesting systems as well as appropriate turf and landscape species based on local conditions and other practices.
“Management practices such as using irrigation delivery equipment, interpreting soil test results and understanding nutrient applications can help reduce runoff and make efficient use of applied landscape irrigation water,” Grubbs said.
Dr. Diane Boellstorff, AgriLife Extension water resource specialist in the soil and crop sciences department, College Station, said proper fertilizer application and efficient water irrigation can protect and improve water quality in area creeks and collecting rainwater for lawn and landscape needs reduces stormwater runoff.
Participants can have their soil tested as part of the training. The soil sample bag and analysis are free to Healthy Lawns and Healthy Waters Program participants.
Residents can pick up a soil sample bag with sampling instructions and the Urban and Homeowner Soil Sample Information Form, beginning July 13, at the AgriLife Extension offices in Hays County located at 200 Stillwater Road, Wimberley, TX, or in Blanco County located at 101 E. Cypress Ste.109, Johnson City, TX. Bags containing residents’ soil samples should be returned to the location where they were obtained. Please do not mail the soil sample to the lab.
Attendees can submit a soil test by dropping their soil sample off to the AgriLife Extension offices in Hays or Blanco Counties prior to or by one week after the meeting.
Samples will be grouped into one submission and sent to the AgriLife Extension Soil, Water and Forage Testing Lab in College Station for routine analysis, including micronutrients, pH, conductivity, nitrate-nitrogen and other parameters.
The training will include information on how to understand soil test results and nutrient recommendations so residents can interpret results once the analysis is mailed to them.
Nick Dornak, watershed coordinator for the Cypress Creek Watershed, will discuss updates on watershed protection plan activities to improve and protect water quality in this watershed.
For more information about the Cypress Creek Watershed Protection Plan, go to http://www.cypresscreekproject.net/watershed-committee/.
Funding for the Healthy Lawns and Healthy Waters Program is provided in part through Clean Water Act grants from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The project is managed by the Texas Water Resources Institute, part of Texas A&M AgriLife Research, AgriLife Extension and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Texas A&M University.
Contact:
- John Smith, 979-204-0573, johnwsmith@tamu.edu
- Dr. Becky Grubbs, 972-952-9673 ext. 673, bgrubbs@tamu.edu
- Dr. Diane Boellstorff, 979-458-3562, dboellstorff@tamu.edu
- Reagan Hejl, 979-845-5252, Reagan.hejl@tamu.edu