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Thursday, April 19, 2007 River Basin Center Co-Director Laurie Fowler receives 2007 Merit Award from the Georgia Chapter of the Soil and Water Conservation Society Athens, Ga. - A team from the University of Georgia River Basin Center and The Georgia Conservancy has been selected as recipient of the 2007 Merit Award from the Georgia Chapter of the Soil and Water Conservation Society. River Basin Center (RBC) Co-director Laurie Fowler, along with David Radcliffe, professor in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences and member of the RBC Advisory Council, and Shana Udvardy, Policy Analyst at The Georgia Conservancy (TGC) and UGA alumna, have been recognized for their work in establishing the Georgia Total Maximum Daily Load Technical Advisory Groups (TMDL TAGs). "This is wonderful recognition by the Soil and Water Conservation Society of the collaborative and interdisciplinary aspect of our work," said Fowler. "We've convened people from across the state to ensure that this key component of the Clean Water Act is used effectively to restore our impaired waters."TMDLs are the maximum amount of a pollutant that a water body can assimilate without violating water quality standards. Under the federal Clean Water Act, states are required to set TMDLs for water bodies that fail to meet their designated uses, such as drinking, fishing or swimming. More than 57% of Georgia's streams, lakes and rivers that have been tested require TMDLs for various pollutants, including bacteria and sediment In 2000, TGC and RBC initiated the first Georgia TMDL TAG, focused on sediment, the most common pollutant in Georgia's waters. The group was composed of scientists from universities, federal and state agencies, as well as non-governmental organizations that represented regionally diverse interests and concerns. The Sediment TMDL TAG produced the white paper "A Protocol for Establishing Sediment TMDLs" in February, 2002. RBC and TGC convened a similar Bacterial TMDL TAG in 2002. The Bacterial TMDL TAG published the white paper "Scientific Basis for Bacterial TMDLs in Georgia" in June 2006. In March 2007, TGC and RBC hosted a workshop on increasing the effectiveness of Georgia's TMDL program. Merit Awards are given on the basis of exemplifying the Society's mission of fostering the science and the art of soil, water, and related natural resource management to achieve sustainability. The establishment of the TMDL TAGs will ensure improved water quality throughout the state. The River Basin Center is the public service and outreach office of the Institute of Ecology. The Center's mission is to integrate science and policymaking, particularly relating to the intersection of land use with water quality/quantity and biodiversity issues. For more information, visit http://www.rivercenter.uga.edu. With roots that date back to the 1950's, the Institute of Ecology at the University of Georgia offers undergraduate and graduate degrees, as well as certification programs. Founder Eugene P. Odum is recognized internationally as a pioneer of ecosystem ecology. The institute is ranked eighth by U.S. News and World Report for its graduate program. For more information, visit http://www.ecology.uga.edu. ## |
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