Regional Water Quality Conference Facilitates Regional Program and Resource Sharing among Institutions and Faculty
The Southern Region has conducted nine regional conferences organized around national water issues. Conference sessions focus on sharing successful programs and innovative approaches to solving water quality problems in agriculture, home economics, community development, and 4-H. Pre- and post-conference workshops and technical tours offer opportunities for in-depth training on key issues while conference sessions present state-of-the-art strategies for addressing critical water resource issues facing the citizens of the Southern Region.
The overall goal of the Southern Region’s Water Quality Conferences is to strengthen the capacity for Extension to develop and deliver water quality programs by sharing research in-formation and successful education strategies and programs addressing current and potential water quality issues, and providing a forum for exchange of ideas and information.
More than 200 County Extension Agents are trained during each Conference. Through regional coordination, expertise is shared and duplication of effort in developing educational materials is avoided.
Participants in the 2003 training held in Ruidoso, New Mexico, rated the training extremely highly. For example, about 93% of respondents (n=58) agreed with the statements, “My pro-grams/activities have benefited from the information/materials/ideas I received,” and “My capacity to produce successful water quality and natural resource programs has been strengthened.” Conference proceedings and evaluation results are available.
Planning for the next Southern Region Water Quality Conference to be held October 23-26, 2005 in Lexington, Kentucky is underway.
For more information about the upcoming conference, please contact Bill Thom.