How to out GREEN your neighbor

The cost savings involved in managing our residential lawns and farm fields should begin with a simple soil analysis.  Save the green in your wallet and test your soils BEFORE you spend money on multi-step fertilizing products and/or lawn care/ farm field management agreements!  A simple soil analysis, which can cost as little as $18.00, can tell you what your soil needs or doesn't need BEFORE you sign the contract or purchase fertilizer.  The Mahoning County Farm Bureau and AWARE are hosting a soil testing workshop on June 6, 2016 at the Southern Park Stables.  The workshop is a collaborative event with the Ohio State University Extension Office, Eastgate Regional Council of Governments, Mahoning County Engineers Office, and Mahoning Soil and Water Conservation District and will feature information about our region’s soils, their needs and cost saving benefits to soil testing. Steve Prebonick, Certified Soil Scientist for Mahoning County, and Eric Barrett, OSU Extension Director for Mahoning County will discuss Mahoning County’s soil types and the importance of understanding soil nutrient needs and the effects of excess nutrients on water quality. Each attendee will learn how to retrieve a soil sample and instructions on where to take their sample for analysis. See the workshop flier below for more details.

Congratulations to the Mahoning County Farm Bureau!

AWARE is proud to partner with the Mahoning County Farm Bureau to begin nutrient management education with residents of the Mill Creek Watershed

The Mahoning County Farm Bureau received $1,500.00 in grant funds from the Ohio County Farm Bureau’s 2016 Water Quality Initiative Grant Program to encourage soil sampling prior to land applying fertilizers and/or nutrients. The “Nutrient Management in the Upper Mill Creek Watershed: What our Soils Can Teach Us” project was one of 19 projects from around the state of Ohio to receive funds.  The Ohio EPA lists nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, as one of the top five aquatic life impairments in surface waters.  Nutrients, when applied in excess and/or at the wrong time, can enter surface waters during heavy rain events and accelerate the formation of algal blooms.  The Mahoning County Farm Bureau and the Alliance for Watershed Action and Resource Education (AWARE) are partnering with the Ohio State University Extension Office, Eastgate Regional Council of Governments, Mahoning County Engineers Office, and Mahoning Soil and Water Conservation District to provide a better understanding of our local soils, what nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) are already in or are lacking in soil, cost savings associated with soil testing prior to fertilizing. 

The Mill Creek Watershed is 78.4 square miles, houses approximately 96,000 residents, and traverses through diverse landscapes- rural lands in the upper/ headwaters region and urbanized areas in lower reaches.  These diverse watershed land uses contribute to the nutrient loads affecting Mill Creek's water quality. This project will show how soil sampling is one of the simplest and cost effective measure landowners and farmers can perform to ensure they are protecting water quality and saving money before they begin applying nutrients.

The Mahoning County Farm Bureau along with the project's collaborators want to provide both agricultural and residential landowners an educational background on proper nutrient management. Whether it is a landowner who fertilizes their residential lawn or a farmer who spreads nutrients across their fields, proper nutrient management is needed to improve water quality in the Mill Creek Watershed. 

World Water Day- March 22, 2016

Celebrate Water on March 22nd ! A message from Water.org

From Source to Tap

Purifying water from Meander Reservoir takes more than a conventional, household filter (i.e. Brita).  The Business Journal takes readers on a video tour of Meander Water's purification system.   Watch the video here: http://businessjournaldaily.com/how-it-works-mahoning-valley-sanitary-district. 

Meander Reservoir looking north at the MVSD spillway.  MVSD's gate house in the background.

Resolve to Recycle- A New Year's Resolution

 Jenifeer Palada-Valdez, 2nd grader at McGuffey Elementary

Each year Green Youngstown holds a calendar competition for students throughout The Youngstown City School District to take part in.  he City's public, private, and charter schools are encouraged to take part and inspire their students to create a picture based on the theme chosen by Green Youngstown.  The 2016 calendar theme was "Resolve to Recycle" and numerous students submitted their art work for judging by Green Youngstown's Keeping America Board.  The board chose 13 winners from over 400 entries (!), and it was noted that the decision was not easy to make.

"Wildcats" in Yellow Creek!

Residents of Yellow Creek, beware of the Wildcats wading in Yellow Creek! Not to be mistaken as the wild cats found on safari , these Wildcats are the students of Geoff Malcomson's Advanced Placement Environmental Science class.  In September these students spent a day at the 76-acre gorge area in Struthers running chemical tests to determine the concentration of nitrates, phosphates and dissolved oxygen. Also sampled were the macroinvertebratesto help determine the quality of the stream. Great Job Mr. Malcomson and class!  Keep up the great effort!

Picture Courtesy of SHS News and Melissa Kuntz

Thirsty for Knowledge?

Ever wonder what is in the water BEFORE it is treated by our (drinking) water treatment plants? Do you ever think about the process water goes through to be purified prior to reaching your faucet?  Well, here is an illustration placed above a Carnegie Science Center's drinking fountain! As you press on the button to get a drink of water, the water in the above, clear tube begins to bubble as if you were drawing your drink from it or in this case, filling your AWARE bottle! How Cool!
Thanks Carnegie Science Center!