Texas Waters Webinar

When:  Tuesday, April 23, 6:30-7:30 p.m. CDT
Registration:  See below
Speaker:  Staryn Wagner is an Environmental Scientist working with the City of Austin’s Watershed Protection Department. His focus is on water quality as it pertains to streams and rivers in Austin and the surrounding area. Currently, he is designing and installing a variety of green stormwater infrastructure (primarily rain gardens and cisterns) on public properties. This new focus has the goal of trying to alter the urban hydrologic cycle as a means of reducing the highly erosive storm flows and increasing baseflow in streams.

Reilly Elementary School campus’ wide approach to capturing stormwater runoff and keeping it onsite will be featured. The water that has been harvested from the sidewalks, parking lots, and rooftops is now used to passively water landscaping, help the trees survive regular droughts, provide drinking water to their chickens, and water their vegetable gardens. All these new uses of the rainwater that used to be ushered off site are also aiding in improving the water quality of nearby Waller Creek by treating pollutants onsite, reducing the erosive flows that go to the stream, and increasing the baseflow opportunity that the stream used to have.

Additionally, 18 new opportunities for interactive education and play have been created around the schoolyard. Where the rain once created a muddy mess to be avoided now sit opportunities for learning about pollution in stormwater runoff, importance of water conservation, infiltration of stormwater and how it affects the regional flora and fauna, the journey of the raindrop, and how structures are built. In addition to our intended uses of the rain gardens and cisterns, the children come up with their own ideas of how the water can be valued. The webinar relates to material in Chapter 8: Human Caused Instruments of Watershed Change of the Texas Waters: Exploring Water and Watersheds curriculum.

If you would like to register to attend the live webinar, you can click here. If you are unable to attend the live presentation, the recorded webinar and associated PowerPoint will be available for download from the Texas Waters Specialist page a few days after the event.