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Rio Grande basin project wins top awardTexas A project to promote water quality and conservation in the Rio Grande River basin has earned the state's most prestigious award for environmental protection. The Rio Grande Basin Initiative has been awarded first place in the 2008 Texas Environmental Excellence Award's agriculture category, state officials announced recently. The award is bestowed annually by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. It will be awarded at a banquet on April 30 in Austin. The program thrives on collaboration and partnerships with the Texas AgriLife Extension Service, Texas AgriLife Research, the New Mexico State University Cooperative Extension Service and the New Mexico State University Agricultural Experiment Station, said Danielle Supercinski, the project manager. "You have to have people working together to make it a success," Supercinski said. "Our goal is to do everything we can to protect and conserve the water that's there for future generations." The initiative is coordinated by the Texas Water Resources Institute, a unit of Texas AgriLife Extension and Texas AgriLife Research based in College Station. The institute's goals include providing leadership to stimulate research and educational programs on water resources. The award highlights the project's valuable educational programs in water conservation in basin communities along the Texas and New Mexico borders, said Dr. B.L. Harris, the Texas institute's associate director and Rio Grande Basin Initiative project director. "This is a very prestigious award, and we are all highly honored to have won," Harris said. "Both Texas and New Mexico participants have done a great job in earning this award." The awards committee complimented the seven-year-old program for saving 4 million acre-feet of water, noting that one acre-foot is equal to the volume of water sufficient to cover an acre to a depth of 12 inches. "While as much as 85 percent of the water in the basin of the Rio Grande River irrigates crops, the area's population and water demands are growing, and so is the threat of water shortages," the committee announcement said. "That risk drove a unique effort by the Texas Water Resources Institute and other public and private participants to preserve this precious resource." The project's educational programs have shared information with basin residents and property owners on water quality, water conservation techniques and tests for well-water contaminants, Supercinski said. They also have addressed the proper use of pesticides and fertilizers on farms, landscapes, athletic fields and parks. The project is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service.
Date: 5/1/08 Advertisement
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