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In this conversation, Dr. Todd Votteler, Principal of Collaborative Water Resolution and Editor-in-Chief of Texas+Water and the Texas Water Journal, talks with Ryan Smith, Director of Water and Science for The Nature Conservancy in Texas, about the Sustainable Rivers Program and its work to improve river health through changes in dam operations.

Ryan is a freshwater ecologist with more than 25 years of professional experience in freshwater conservation. He leads a team implementing statewide freshwater conservation strategies, including water-efficient and regenerative agriculture, environmental water transactions, environmental flows, watershed protection and restoration, and groundwater and surface water management and policy. Ryan is The Nature Conservancy’s Texas lead for the Sustainable Rivers Program, a partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to improve the health and life of rivers by changing the Corps’ dam operations.

Before moving to Texas, Ryan worked for The Nature Conservancy’s global water team and regional science teams, where he supported freshwater projects across the U.S., Mexico, and Central America. He has a Master of Science in fisheries and wildlife sciences from Virginia Tech and a Bachelor of Science in fisheries and wildlife biology from Colorado State University.

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In this conversation, Dr. Todd Votteler, Principal of Collaborative Water Resolution and Editor-in-Chief of Texas+Water and the Texas Water Journal, talks with Brian Sheng, CEO and a Co-Founder of Aquaria, about atmospheric water generation and its potential role in Texas’ water future.

Aquaria is a corporation that builds air-water infrastructure to produce scalable water systems that create clean drinking water from the air. Brian headquartered Aquaria in Austin, Texas, in 2024 to focus the company on meeting the rising water crisis in Texas.

While attending Princeton University, Brian wrote his thesis on atmospheric water generation. Brian was honored as a member of the Forbes 30 under 30 class of 2024, and Aquaria was named one of TIME’s Best Inventions of 2024. Brian is an entrepreneur and investor who has founded and led multiple companies and investment ventures across technology, consumer products, and emerging industries.

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In this conversation, Dr. Todd Votteler, Principal of Collaborative Water Resolution and Editor-in-Chief of Texas+Water and the Texas Water Journal, discusses dam removals and river restoration with Beth Lambert, Director of the Massachusetts Division of Ecological Restoration.

The Massachusetts Division of Ecological Restoration is part of the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game. As Director, Beth oversees a 30-person agency whose mission is to restore and protect rivers, wetlands, and watersheds for the benefit of people and the environment. Division of Ecological Restoration staff work with communities, landowners, nonprofit organizations, and state and federal agencies on projects that restore habitat and help people and nature adapt to climate change.

Over the past 20 years, the Division of Ecological Restoration has removed more than 70 dams in partnership with federal, state, municipal, and NGO organizations. Beth has 25 years of experience in river and watershed restoration in Oregon, Alaska, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts.

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In this conversation, Dr. Todd Votteler, Principal of Collaborative Water Resolution and Editor-in-Chief of Texas+Water and the Texas Water Journal, talks with Josh Katz, attorney with Bickerstaff Heath, about a recent Texas Supreme Court decision on produced water ownership and its implications for water rights and policy.

Josh practices in the areas of municipal law, environmental law, administrative law, water law, electric utility regulation, and civil litigation. He represents municipalities, river authorities, water districts, and private entities in these and related matters before state agencies and in state and federal courts. Before joining Bickerstaff Heath in 2010, Josh was an associate with a large Austin law firm and an environmental and property law litigation boutique. He researched and drafted publications and other documents while clerking at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the Jones McClure Publishing Company, where he drafted and edited various O’Connor’s legal publications.

For a deeper dive into this topic, read his legal review published in the Texas Water Journal: https://twj-ojs-tdl.tdl.org/twj/article/view/7233.

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In this conversation, Dr. Todd Votteler, Principal of Collaborative Water Resolution and Editor-in-Chief of Texas+Water and the Texas Water Journal, talks with Dr. Margaret Cook, Vice President of Water & Community Resilience at the Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC), about water use of data centers in Texas.

Margaret leads a team of experts who build collaborative initiatives to enhance community resilience, sustainable development, and the availability and affordability of clean water. She is a seasoned sustainability leader with a proven record of innovative research and solution development. With a strong foundation in engineering, policy, and the water-energy-climate nexus, she has successfully collaborated with diverse stakeholders to address critical challenges in these sectors, co-developing programs with communities and prioritizing those with the greatest need. Margaret’s research focuses on developing and implementing solutions for water resource management, energy access and affordability, and climate adaptation.

Margaret earned a Doctorate in Civil Engineering with a certificate in Engineering Education, a Master's degree in Environmental and Water Resources Engineering, and a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering, all from the University of Texas at Austin Cockrell School of Engineering. She also holds a dual Master's degree in Public Affairs from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin.

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In this conversation, Dr. Todd Votteler, Principal of Collaborative Water Resolution and Editor-in-Chief of Texas+Water and the Texas Water Journal, examines how failed P-13 wells, which are former oil and gas wells converted for water use, can fall outside regulatory oversight and create risks for Texas groundwater, with Sarah Stogner, District Attorney for the Texas 143rd Judicial District, and Dr. Ron Green, retired hydrologist.

Sarah Stogner is the elected District Attorney for the 143rd Judicial District in rural West Texas. A West Texas landowner herself, she has become one of the state’s most vocal advocates for holding the oil and gas industry accountable for improperly plugged legacy wells—known as “zombie wells”—that threaten land, water, and property rights across Texas. She is the founder of Zombie Wells, a platform that connects affected landowners with regulatory data and legal resources. In 2022, Sarah ran for Texas Railroad Commissioner, advancing to the Republican primary runoff in a race that sharpened her focus on the Commission’s chronic failure to enforce plugging obligations and pursue successor liability against the majors. She brings a ground-level perspective that combines courtroom experience, regulatory policy knowledge, and the firsthand reality of owning land in oil country.

Dr. Ron Green is a retired hydrologist, formerly with the Southwest Research Institute and the consulting firm, Fishbeck, Thompson, Carr & Huber. He has specialized in groundwater hydrology and environmental geophysics, with a focus on water resource assessment and karst hydrology. He has volunteered on the state board of trustees of The Nature Conservancy in Texas, serving as chair of its Conservation and Science Committee. He has also served as board chair for the Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance.

For a deeper dive into this topic, read their paper published in the Texas Water Journal: https://twj-ojs-tdl.tdl.org/twj/article/view/7212.

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In this conversation, Dr. Todd Votteler, Principal of Collaborative Water Resolution and Editor-in-Chief of Texas+Water and the Texas Water Journal, discusses the role of journalism and storytelling in advancing water solutions with Travis Loop, founder of the waterloop, an award-winning nonprofit news outlet exploring water sustainability.

Travis began his career as a newspaper reporter and returned to his passion for journalism to launch and operate the platform. He brings more than 20 years of experience, including serving as communications director at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Water Environment Federation, and the Chesapeake Bay Program, as well as speechwriter for the Governor of Hawaii.

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In this conversation, Dr. Todd Votteler, Principal of Collaborative Water Resolution and Editor-in-Chief of Texas+Water and the Texas Water Journal, discusses the National Water Availability Assessment project, with Dr. Ted Stets, a Research Ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), who is leading the assessment. The assessment project is tasked with producing a comprehensive, integrated assessment of the nation’s water availability.

The first National Water Assessment was published in January 2025; a supplement will be published at the end of 2026, and updates to the report are scheduled every five years thereafter.

Stets received a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 2007, working on carbon and nutrient cycling in surface waters. His work at the USGS has focused on catchment hydrology and elemental cycling, as well as on the former National Water Quality Assessment Program (NAWQA), which officially ended in 2018 after a 30-year run. Ted lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

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