[ADEQ Media] ADEQ Director Owens Announces $176, 150 Grant to the University of Arizona's Master Watershed Steward Program

[media@lists.azdeq.gov]

ADEQ Director Owens Announces $176,150 Grant to the University of
Arizona's Master Watershed Steward Program 

PHOENIX (July 9, 2008) - Arizona Department of Environmental Quality
(ADEQ) Director Steve Owens announced today that ADEQ has awarded a
$176,150 Water Quality Improvement Education Grant to the University of
Arizona's Master Watershed Steward Program (MWSP) to enhance watershed
education statewide.

MWSP was created to educate and train Arizona residents to serve as
volunteers in protecting, restoring, monitoring and conserving
watersheds. 
The grant will bring in more partners and expand the scope of the
program throughout Arizona.

The program offers more than 50 hours of coursework on basic watershed
science and covers general information about what watersheds are and how
they function.  The stewards learn about hydrology, geology and soil
types, Arizona's climate, water quality and quantity, water management
and mapping.  
 
"The University of Arizona is doing a terrific job training volunteers
to protect our precious water resources through the Master Watershed
Steward Program," Director Owens said.  "We are very pleased to continue
our support for this extremely important effort."  

ADEQ has funded MWSP continuously since its inception in 2004 but this
is the first year that MWSP has been funded through ADEQ's competitive
grant program. In prior years, the program was funded through an
Interagency Service Agreement. 

ADEQ's Water Quality Improvement Grant Program administers funds from
the federal  Environmental Protection Agency  for implementation of
education projects such as the Master Watershed Stewards Program, which
ultimately reduces non-point source pollution in Arizona.

Non-point source pollution is polluted runoff from many different
sources and remains the nation's largest source of water quality
problems. It occurs when rainfall, snowmelt or irrigation runs over land
through the ground, picks up pollutants and deposits them into rivers,
lakes and coastal waters or introduces them into the ground.

-30-

News media interested in additional information on this or any other
topic concerning the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality should
contact the Office of Communications at (602) 771-2215 or via email at
communications@azdeq.gov.

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