The conference is the outgrowth of the Southern Region Extension Water Quality Coordinators Planning Committee. Organized in 1988 by Extension water-quality educators in 13 states, the committee’s aim is to strengthen the effectiveness of Cooperative Extension System educational programs relating to water quality, waste management and natural resource programs.

One of the conference’s major topics of discussion included plans to establish a regional water-quality information system that will serve clientele throughout the region.

The database will enable water-quality professionals in the Southern region to share critical information relating to water quality, according to Dr. Mark McFarland, who coordinates water-quality programs in Texas through Texas A&M University. Texas A&M is coordinating development of the information system.

Equally important, McFarland says, is that the information system, which will be available through the Worldwide Web, will be designed to provide clientele from all walks of life with convenient access to critical water-quality information and related topics.

The system will be designed to encompass every facet of water quality, including drinking water and human health, environmental restoration, nutrient and pesticide management, pollution prevention, watershed management and waste management.

Local municipal leaders and planners in particular will reap huge benefits from the new database, McFarland believes. That’s because the system will also be equipped with a GIS (Geographic Information System) component capable of assembling, storing, manipulating and displaying geographically referenced information, such as land-use or rainfall data relating to a specific location.

This tool, McFarland believes, will be especially valuable, because it can be used by educators as well as local county leaders and planners to accomplish a wide array of efforts aimed at safeguarding water quality.

"They can use it for a great many things, from land-use planning to managing watersheds for pollution prevention," he says, "and they will be able to use it in a highly user-friendly format."

At Auburn University, Jim Hairston, Alabama’s Extension water quality coordinator, and John Beck, research associate for water quality, see the database as part of a continuing effort by the Cooperative Extension System and other federal and state agency partners to remain on the technological cutting edge of information delivery.

In fact, they believe new water-quality database will be a critical step in equipping water-quality educators to meet the challenges of a new century.

The Water Quality Conference is held once every two years to enable water quality scientists and other professionals to discuss and exchange ideas relating to water quality and public policy.

Plans for the new information system were only one of several topics discussed at the meeting.

Day two of the conference was devoted to a series of concurrent sessions exploring more than 60 different topics dealing with animal waste management, drinking water and human health, watershed management, pollution prevention and environmental restoration.

In addition to the Southern Region Extension Water Quality Planning Committee, other sponsors included the USDA Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service; Auburn University Marine Extension and Research Center; the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service; EPA; Baldwin County Extension Office; and Dauphin Island Sea Lab.