Event Details — Texas Water Symposium [San Antonio]

The Texas Water Symposium will be held on Thursday, November 12 at 7:00 pm at the University of Texas-San Antonio campus. The event will be in the University Room in the Business Building, 2.06.04 UTSA North Campus. Click here for a campus map.

A description from the Hill Country Alliance website:

The Texas Water Symposium, created through the partnership of Schreiner University, Texas Tech University, Texas Public Radio, and Hill Country Alliance is a series of free lectures designed to inform and engage Texas citizens.

The population of Texas is exploding. Some parts of Texas are water-rich; others are water-poor. There is a great need for a water-literate public to make informed decisions— decisions require understanding of the following questions:

Where does your water come from? Will there be enough for your children and grandchildren? What effect will new sources and greater demand of water have on the rivers, wetlands and aquifers? What role does science play in determining water planning and management decisions? What is conjunctive water management? What are policy and legal issues of water supply? What are economic, social and environmental costs and benefits of alternate sources of water supply? What role does conservation and education play in water decisions?

The Texas Water Symposium series provides perspectives from key stakeholders and illustrate the complexity and challenges in providing water for Texans in this century.

Each event in the series draws on material discussed in the preceding one, but those who can’t attend all of them will still find them valuable.

The Symposium venues alternate to provide the public with expanded access and there is no admission charge. Texas Public Radio will record and edit each program for subsequent Friday night broadcast over KSTX (San Antonio) and KTXI (Ingram).

Moderator:

* Robert E. Mace is a deputy executive administrator at the Texas Water Development Board and manages the Water Science and Conservation program area for the agency. He has a B.S. in geophysics and an M.S. in hydrology from the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology and a Ph.D. in hydrogeology from The University of Texas at Austin. He worked eight years as a staff hydrogeologist at the Bureau of Economic Geology before joining the Texas Water Development Board in the summer of 1999.

Panelists:

* Mary Ellen Summerlin currently serves as the at-large representative on the board of the Headwaters Groundwater Conservation District in Kerr county. She has lived in Kerrville since 1999 and is serving her second term on the board, having been elected in 2004 to the Precinct 2 position and in 2008 to the at-large position. When the regional groundwater management areas were established by the legislature in 2005 she was serving as president of the Headwaters board and met with other GMA 9 district presidents to begin establishing the dfc’s for local aquifers. She has continued to serve as Headwaters’ designated representative ever since.
* Weldon Hammond teaches courses in the fields of hydrology and engineering geology. His research has focused on the use of isotopes in hydrologic studies, ground-water resource development in third world countries and water resource management systems. He has over 35 years experience in water resource studies in the United States, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and South America
* Currently in a solo law practice, Gregory M. Ellis has a long history in water law and water issues. While still in law school in the mid-eighties, he helped clerk the House Natural Resources Committee and worked on a variety of water legislation. After graduating from the University of Texas Law School he worked as legislative liaison for the Texas Water Commission. In 1992 Ellis moved to Houston to serve as General Council to the Harris-Galveston Coastal Subsidence District. The Edwards Aquifer Authority, working to start up operations in 1997, tapped Ellis as their General Manager, a position he held until October 2004 when he left to start his solo law practice. In addition to representing groundwater conservation district clients across the State, Ellis serves as Executive Director of the Texas Alliance of Groundwater Districts. Ellis is well versed in groundwater law, groundwater conservation districts and administrative procedures.