The Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment previously issued a November 16th news release announcing the winners of the Arkansas Environmental Stewardship (“ENVY”) Award.
The awards included a competitive student award, the Arkansas Energy and Environment Stewardship (“ENVY) Award, the Arkansas Energy and Environment Technology (“TECHe Award”); and the Energy Excellence (“E2”) Award.
(See November 2nd blog post here announcing finalists for the awards.)
Union County Water Conservation Board was chosen as the winner of the ENVY Award.
The news release states:
. . . Union County Water Conservation Board started the Sparta Aquifer Recovery Initiative’s project to address critical groundwater issues. Union County’s once pristine and plentiful groundwater source, the deep underground Sparta aquifer had been over-pumped and faced looming irreparable damage. Through the project, Union County met its goal to reduce groundwater consumption by sustaining the aquifer and removing the threat of irreparable damage to the county’s drinking water source through compaction and saltwater intrusion.
Indigo Agriculture, Anheuser-Busch, and Dagan were awarded the TECHe Award.
These three are stated to have partnered in 2019 to:
. . . grow rice sustainably, with less water, nitrogen, and greenhouse gas emissions to address growing concerns of the large carbon footprint of rice production. Across 11,000 acres, 29 Arkansas rice farmers have enrolled in the program and adopted several sustainable management practices. In the first year of the program, Arkansas farmers achieved a 23.7% average decrease in water use, a 13.3% average reduction in nitrogen applications, and a 26.6% average reduction in methane emissions.
Clarksville Connected Utilities was named the winner of the E2 Award.
The organization is stated to have:
. . . partnered with Scenic Hill Solar to construct two power plants. The two solar farms will produce more than 9.3 megawatts of electricity. Together, they will power every municipal building with clean, renewable energy. Beyond the city facilities needs being met with solar energy, Clarksville Connected Utilities, as a municipal utility, is in a unique position with its wind, hydro, landfill gas, and solar supply. With the rain conditional of 2019, 61% of its entire utility power supply was non-emitting with 48% being hydro power.
The recipient of the E&E Quest Science Award was Surabhee Eswaran, a student at Little Rock Central High School.
Surabhee is stated to have:
. . . recognized the challenge to relieve water scarcity in rural areas and began formulating ideas to sustainably manage the natural resources of fresh water. Surabhee’s project focused on developing an automated irrigation system. She tested the voltage of banana plants, which served as an indicator of a plant’s moisture level, to create an automated irrigation system. Surabhee’s research proved the system was efficient because it only watered the plant when needed, increasing the plant's voltage and its moisture level. Central High School will receive an award of $500 to the school science program, and Surabhee will receive $500 to use for educational purposes.
A copy of the news release announcing the 2020 E&E Award winners can be downloaded here.
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