Water Quality the Focus of March 14 Workshop

COLUMBUS, Ohio – How to improve water quality across the region will be discussed by Ohio State University Extension, the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center and industry experts in agriculture, climatology and environmental economics during a workshop and annual conference hosted by the Soil and Water Conservation Society March 14.

The “Important Issues in Water Quality and Nutrient Placement” conference will focus on technologies and techniques to minimize the amount of sediment and agricultural chemicals escaping from farmland to streams and lakes, said Randall Reeder, a retired OSU Extension agricultural engineer who is president of the society’s Ohio chapter.

OSU Extension and OARDC are the outreach and research arms, respectively, of the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences at The Ohio State University.

“The conference will include discussions on injecting nutrients instead of incorporating or broadcasting them and how to reduce erosion of streambanks,” Reeder said. “Water quality is a hot topic because seldom does a day go by without a news article on water issues such as algal blooms in Lake Erie or contaminated drinking water.”

Topics to be discussed include:

• “Healthy Water Ohio: A Strategy for Water Resources Management” by Larry Antosch, senior director, program innovation and environmental policy for the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation.
• “Keeping a Finger on the Pulse of Ohio Watersheds” by Laura Johnson, director of the National Center for Water Quality Research at Heidelberg University.
• “Fluvial Hazard Mitigation and Erosion Controls” by Robert Barr, a research scientist at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.
• “Understanding Streamflow Dynamics to Improve Bank Stability” by Randy Keitz, a senior environmental engineer with Stow, Ohio-based EnviroScience.      
• “Injecting Nutrients to Reduce Runoff” by John Fulton, precision agriculture specialist for OSU Extension.

The event will be held from 9 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. at the Ohio Department of Agriculture, 8995 E. Main St. in Reynoldsburg. Registration is $40 by March 4 for members of the Soil and Water Conservation Society and $50 for nonmembers. Registration for students is $20. The late registration fee is $60. Registration includes refreshments and lunch. Registration can be paid by check made payable to All-Ohio Chapter SWCS and sent to Mark Fritz, 609 Lisa Lane, Willard, Ohio 44890.

More information can be found at fabe.osu.edu/OhioSWCS or by calling 419-354-9050.          

Conference participants are eligible for 4 hours of Soil and Water Management credit in the Ohio Certified Crop Advisor (CCA) Program and 1 hour of Nutrient Management credit, also in the CCA program.