The Healthy Lawns and Healthy Waters (HLHW) program is an educational training program that aims to improve and protect surface water quality by enhancing Texas residents’ awareness and knowledge of best management practices for residential landscapes. The program is offered by the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service in cooperation with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and other partner agencies and organizations.
HLHW workshop participants learn
- how to design and install residential rainwater capture devices that support rainwater storage and landscape irrigation
- the importance of choosing climate- and soil-appropriate turf and landscaping species for local growing conditions
- the key importance of soil testing and how to determine nutrient application amounts
- how to improve irrigation water use efficiency through better understanding of evapotranspiration, smart meters, deficit irrigation and cycle-soak methods for reducing runoff
- water delivery equipment and measuring water distribution
The Texas Water Resources Institute along with the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service’s Department of Soil and Crop Sciences developed HLHW to deliver a science-based, community-responsive education curriculum to Texas residents. The goal of the HLHW program is to train Texans regarding reduced runoff, water quality and best management practices for protecting their home landscape, watershed and surface waters. It focuses on protecting water quality by reducing runoff through rainwater capture and providing information on ecologically appropriate quantities and timing of inputs to residential lawns in the watersheds. The program offers free soil sample analysis and HLHW trainings. As a result of participation, Texans have a better understanding of the relationships between practices in or near their residence and the quantity and quality of the water in the watershed.
Healthy lawns make for healthier waters
Read about this program in Texas Water Resources Institute’s TWRI News:
