The free online Water Stewards Course is accepting participant sign-up between now and March 27th,contact the course moderator Deana Knuteson (dknuteson@wisc.edu, 608-347-8236). This first session has limited space, and sign-up is on a first come, first serve basis.
The course was developed by the UW Nutrient and Pest Management Program and UW Division of Extension CALS Specialists. The overall goal is for participants to develop an understanding of science-based vocabulary, terms and methods for water conservation and stewardship planning. The course explores the latest water use efficiency tools being used in water management and a wide range of water conservation strategies related to the environment, pest management, nutrient water quality, and economics. Although the course directly addresses Wisconsin water quantity issues in the Central Sands region, the closely related issue of water quality is also covered.
The course is composed of six modules; each module can be completed in 30 to 60 minutes.
- Basic terms and principles of water conservation in agriculture
- Water management in Wisconsin, overall water levels, natural landscapes and agricultural use, on-farm management of landscapes
- New approaches to optimize water use
- Managing Irrigation to optimize water use
- Modeling water use: approaches and practices
- Implementing water conservation
Completing a short quiz at end of each module allows participants to advance to the next module. There is also a discussion feature in the course to allow for questions and interactions with participants and the course moderator.
Six CEUs are available (4 Soil and Water (SW), 2 Sustainability (S)) are available for participants upon completion of the course.