2017 ASHS Annual Conference

Fresh water resources are precious and limiting in many areas of the United States. Use of recycled water for specialty crop production may help reduce strain on limited potable water resources while supporting continued producer economic viability over coming years. Industry-wide use of alternative water resources is limited by infrastructure costs and concerns related to contaminant (e.g. disease, pesticide, and salt) presence. The Clean WateR³ (R³ = Reduce, Remediate, Recycle) team of research and extension faculty is developing a suite of online tools (model systems) to aid the producer decision process. The foundational data for these web-based tools are from on-farm and laboratory research evaluating a suite of treatment technologies (best management practices) and current water management practices that can be used independently or in combination to address individual needs of specialty crop operations throughout the US. We will discuss progress to date on the project and how we assess (and share) milestones toward achieving project objectives. Team building and organization are a critical component of project success; we will discuss the approach taken for the Clean WateR³ team and how we have (re)organized project flow to best utilize team expertise to accomplish goals. Successful outreach is the foundational component of the project as a whole, we will discuss our successes and how we are working to improve sharing information with our stakeholders to encourage adoption or change in practice.

USDA-NIFA-SCRI # 2014-51181-22372