Middle Tennessee State University representatives will be among a host of area agencies gathering Oct. 20 in Murfreesboro to educate and engage the public on the importance of protecting the area’s water supply.

In this file photo from the spring, MTSU senior Stuart Montez, a music business major from Little Rock, Ark., volunteered to help cleanup litter in the Sinking Creek wetland area as part of Alternative Spring Break activities. (MTSU file photo by News and Media Relations)

The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation’s Division of Water Resources will host the “interactive” public event, scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 20, at the Patterson Park Community Center, 521 Mercury Blvd. in Murfreesboro.

The event targets people who live in the Stones River Watershed, an area roughly 921 square miles that includes parts of Cannon, Davidson, Rutherford and Wilson counties. The goal of the event is to help those residents connect, share information, develop relationships and collaborate with others making contributions to water quality.

Residents from all of these counties are asked to share the important responsibility of protecting and improving water resources in the watershed.

“Learn more about our local environment where we live, work and play and network with a variety of organizations,” said Cynthia Allen with MTSU’s Stormwater Program. “The event is set up like a fall festival/Earth Day event geared toward education. Over 25 agencies will be in attendance to share ongoing efforts geared towards research, protection efforts and recreation regarding local streams.”

“This event will be a chance for people to see how water quality is being protected in the Stones River Watershed,” said Meredith Benton, regional director of TDEC’s Nashville Field Office. “It will also be an opportunity for people to find out from the people and organizations already contributing to the effort and how they can be involved with keeping the watershed healthy in the future.”

Watersheds are land areas that drain into a particular stream or lake. TDEC officials say a healthy watershed is important because these waters supply drinking water, water for agriculture, habitat for plants and animals as well as recreational opportunities like swimming, fishing and boating.

The following organizations, groups and state agencies will participate in the event:

• TDEC Division of Water Resources
• Stones River Watershed Association
• Cumberland River Compact
• Murfreesboro Parks & Recreation
• Friends of the Greenway
• Discovery Center
• Middle Tennessee State University

In this file photo, MTSU student volunteers help plant trees along Garrison Creek in east Murfreesboro in November 2012. (File photo by MTSU News and Media Relations)

• MTSU Stormwater Program
• Motlow State Community College
• Rutherford County
• Stones River National Battlefield
• Metro Nashville
• City of Murfreesboro
• City of Lebanon
• City of Mt. Juliet
• Wilson County
• The Nature Conservancy
• Tennessee Stream Mitigation Program
• Natural Resources Conservation Service
• Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency
• UT Extension
• S. Army Corps of Engineers
• Tennessee Department of Transportation
• Tennessee Department of Agriculture-319 Program
• Tennessee Department of Agriculture – Forestry
• Water City USA
• Tennessee Environmental Council

For more information about this meeting, contact Regan McGahen at 615-532-1175 or regan.mcgahen@tn.gov.

— Jimmy Hart (jimmy.hart@mtsu.edu)

In this 2012 file photo, Cynthia Allen of the MTSU Stormwater Program puts soil around one of dozens of trees planted along Garrison Creek in Murfreesboro. Allen coordinated a volunteer team of about 40 students for the tree planting event, which was hosted by the MTSU Stormwater Program in partnership with the Tennessee Environmental Council and the city of Murfreesboro.