![[logo] US EPA](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081109170942im_/http://www.epa.gov/epafiles/images/logo_epaseal.gif){kind=logo}
Top Stories
Regional Administrator Richard Greene joined Texas dignitaries in a tour
to discuss strategies of phosphorus reduction in the Bosque watershed
through innovation and improved, cooperative agriculture management practices.
Keith
Broumley, Dairy owner, and Steel Maloney, Principal Hydrologist of Cascade
Earth Sciences, provided a comprehensive overview and tour. Central to
the Dairy's operations is a new innovative project to reduce phosphorus
in the Bosque watershed. Many believe the project is a model for farms
to cover the cost of treating their waste by selling electricity and compost.
The 'manure-to-electricity' project captures methane and makes electricity.
The electricity can then be used or sold to the local power grid.
The manure-to-electricity project also removes about 80 percent of the phosphorus from wastewater created by the dairy. Phosphorus reductions are essential to plans to protect the Bosque watershed. Compost is also produced from the project and can be used as a crop fertilizer.
Dairy farms -- along with other agriculture operations -- across the region are expected to benefit from this collaborative public/private demonstration project. During the upcoming months, valuable information will be generated by the project to determine its viability at other farms.