Announcing The 5th Annual State of Our Watershed Conference

The 5^th Annual State of Our Watershed Conference, The Tallapoosa River Basin -Moving Toward More Effective Water Policy will be at the Betty Carol Graham Technology Center at the Central Alabama Community College in Alexander City on Wednesday-Thursday, May 13th-14^th, 2009. This year’s conference will focus on moving toward sustainable water management policy for the Tallapoosa River Basin.

 This year’s organizers and sponsors include the Auburn University Water Resources Center, Alabama Water Watch, the Middle Tallapoosa Clean Water Partnership, Lake Watch of Lake Martin, the Montgomery Water Works and Sanitary Sewer Board, and Central Alabama Community College.

Go to www.twp.auburn.edu  and, under TWP Highlights click the  5th Annual State of Our Watershed Conference  link to go to information on the conference, including the Tallapoosa River Basin Management Plan (8.2 megabite pdf file), conference announcement, and conference registration (required for lunch headcount), and additional information.

Producing Biodiesel for Municipal Fleets from Waste Vegetable Oil – a guide

The Auburn University Natural Resources Management & Development Institute, its Center for Bioenergy and Bioproducts, and the Alabama Cooperative Extension System in cooperation with the Energy Division of the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs have produced and are pleased to make available a guide for those interested in small-scale, municipal biodiesel production from waste vegetable oil (WVO).  Below is an excerpt from the publication.  To access the entire publication as a .pdf, visit our website at:  www.nrmdi.auburn.edu/bio.

Executive Summary

Biodiesel is a renewable fuel alternative to traditional petroleum‐based diesel fuel. Biodiesel is an attractive option for producers who would like to process their own biofuels because it can be made at a relatively small scale using vegetable oils or animal fats. A growing number of municipalities are starting recycling programs to collect and process used cooking oils or waste vegetable oils (WVO) into biodiesel that can be used in the municipal vehicle fleet. This publication provides guidance to municipal small scale fleets on making biodiesel primarily by using cooking oil that has been recycled. Discussion is provided to help the municipality evaluate how much cooking oil might be available in their community; how to develop a recycling program and process the oil into biodiesel; how to test the finished fuel product; and how to store and dispense the fuel. Locally‐produced biodiesel will never be able to eliminate our nation’s dependence on foreign oil. However, it offers an important opportunity for every citizen to become a participant in recycling a waste product into a useful biofuel, which will, in turn, reduce demands on our landfills and wastewater treatment systems, and stretch taxpayer dollars in challenging economic times.