With the drought of 2005-06 still fresh in our minds and 2008 looking to be the third-driest year on record so far, water availability could become an issue. Another concern is the quality of what little water Mother Nature will make available to us.

This life-sustaining fluid serves many purposes for all forms of life and is a precious resource.

Denton County is home to three lakes totaling 44,736 surface acres in which almost all of the recharge water comes from watersheds.

EDDIE BAGGS

A watershed is an area of land that water flows across, through or under as it drains into a stream, river, lake, ocean or other body of water.

Some of these watershed areas are covered with vegetation that helps filter out pollutants before reaching these collection bodies.

But as development pressures increase and land uses change, the altered quality of water coming from these areas becomes a cause for concern.

We all live in a watershed.

The things that we do at home and work affect water quality.

In Texas, some form of water pollution impacts 92 percent of streams, rivers and lakes.

So, in a sense, we are stewards of the watershed we live in and are in charge of our own fate for future potable water.

The Hickory Creek watershed in Denton County flows into Lewisville Lake — a main source of drinking water for residents of Denton and other surrounding municipalities.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the city of Denton has been working on a plan to improve the water quality in the Hickory Creek Watershed.

A workshop is being offered July 23 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Denton ISD Advanced Technology Complex, 1504 Long Road off Loop 288, to explain more about this program.

To register or for more information, visit http://tws.tamu.edu.

EDDIE BAGGS, county extension agent with the Texas AgriLife Extension Service in Denton County, can be reached at 940-349-2880.