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The AWU Center for Environmental Research at the Hornsby Bend Biosolids Management Plant is a partnership formed in 1989 with the University of
Texas and Texas A&M University to support urban ecology and sustainability studies for Austin. Numerous Texas universities along with federal
and state agencies now work through the CER to utilize the Hornsby Bend site for education and research on biosolids, soil ecology, biodiversity,
riparian ecology, and more. The CER auditorium and classrooms are used by a wide range of academic institutions, government agencies, and
non-profit organizations for workshops, classes, and meetings.
Hornsby Bend is nationally known as a biodiversity research site and as an ecotourism destination. |
Classroom in CER auditorium.
The Hornsby Bend site is open to visitors 7 days a week from dawn to dark.
Visitors should use the "Public Entrance" that leads to the treatment ponds. See map. |
The biodiversity is
present both because the sewage treatment plant is managed to encourage wildlife and because of the diversity of habitats
at the site stretching along 3.5 miles of the Colorado River. One measure of this biodiversity is that Hornsby Bend is
nationally known as one of the best birding sites in Texas – harboring over 370 species of birds and an abundance of
other wildlife which is monitored through the CER’s citizen science programs and university researchers. The site is,
also, a destination on the TPWD Heart of
Texas Wildlife tourism trail.
Click here for a map to the Hornsby Bend site and CER.
CER Monthly Events September 2010
Check out what is happening at Hornsby Bend this month.
Most of the events are free and open to the public!
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CER Lunchtime Lectures
Monday AT NOON AT Waller Center, 625 East 10th
Street - between I-35 and Red River.
Lectures are free and open to the public. Bring a lunch and learn.
Monday, September 13 - David Greene, P.E. - The Carbon Utility: Water, Wastewater, and the Carbon Connection
Wrapping up this summer's series of talks on Urban Ecology, Climate, and Hornsby Bend, we will explore the emerging pattern
of re-envisioning water and wastewater treatment as part of a broader carbon management strategy: in wastewater we encounter
carbon as pollutant and pathogen, carbon as food and ecosystem substrate, and carbon as energy source. As we work to understand
and holistically manage these embodiments of the element, what might that look like locally and as an industry?
Hornsby Bend Site
The 1200-acre Hornsby Bend site presents a unique opportunity for research and education about issues of urban ecology. All of Austin's
sewage and yard trimmings are recycled at Hornsby Bend, which represents over 15% of all the solid waste produced by
the City. Moreover, what is waste for us is the beginnings of a high
nutrient food chain that provides nourishment to wildlife while recycling these "wastes" in an ecologically sound and sustainable
manner. This biodiversity is present both because of the bio-treatment processes used by the facility and because of the diversity
of habitats at the site stretching along 3.5 miles of the Colorado River. One measure of this biodiversity is that Hornsby Bend is
nationally known as one of the best birding sites in Texas--harboring
over 370 species of birds and an abundance of other wildlife, which is monitored through citizen science
programs and university researchers. |
