The fourth annual Water Festival Week at the Jay C. Hormel Nature Center will kick off at 7 p.m. on Monday, July 10, with a talk by cover crop champions.

Mower County farmers Tom Cotter and Tom Finnegan, along with soil scientist Steve Lawler, will host an informational session featuring their cover crop success stories. The talk will take place in the Ruby Rupner Auditorium.

The trio will share their strategies of food production efficiency and sustainability through the use of cover crops. Their work has been a model in conservation, benefiting soil, water, wildlife, and all those presiding downstream. RSVP by July 8.

The free event is co-sponsored by the Nature Center and the Austin Chapter 10 of the Izaak Walton League.

The event marks the first of several activities scheduled as part of the festival that celebrates the importance of clean water.

On Thursday, July 13, a model stream table will be featured, showing visitors how a stream or river really works. A senior Special program begins at 10 a.m. and a family program starts at 1 p.m. in the interpretive center. RSVP by July 12.

Also on that day is Water Nature Play, with several water-themed activities planned, including canoeing and kayaking, and pond scooping, from 1 to 4 p.m.; water quality testing, from 2 to 4 p.m., a water survival game, from 2:15 to 4 p.m.; and crayfish hunting, from 2:30 to 4 p.m.

On Friday, July 14, children can take a waste water treatment plant tour at 1 p.m.; sign-up at the Nature Center is required.

Saturday, July 15 is Clean Water Service Day. Those attending can participate in river clean-up or water quality testing, from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. Visitors in the afternoon, from 1:30-4:30 p.m., can help by attaching “No Dumping” plates on storm drains, or conduct water testing.

For more on the week, go to: hormelnaturecenter.org/water-festival