The date for the 2023 Milam and Burleson Counties Groundwater Summit has been set for Aug. 17, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Caldwell Civic Center, 103 TX-21 in Caldwell. The summit is free and open to the public with lunch provided. RVSPs are made by calling 512-4559900 or at your local Texas A&M AgriLife office in Burleson County at 979-567-2308.
A panel will discuss the history of the use of Desired Future Conditions (DFC) in Texas regarding our aquifers. The panel will be composed of Robby Cook, author of the legislation which created the DFC process; Robert Mace, who spent more than 10 years at the Texas Water Development Board as deputy executive director of groundwater and provided assistance to GCDs in this process; and Gary Westbrook who has represented the district in developing protective legislation for the process since its adoption in 2005.
COOK— Robert L. “Robby” Cook, III served on Texas House of Representatives beginning in 1996, and was subsequently re-elected for five successive terms. He served on the National Conference of State Legislators and American Legislative Exchange Council.
Cook is also a Public Policy Fellow of the 2002 University of Texas Center for Public Policy Dispute Resolution training program and was chosen by his peers as the “Freshman Legislator of the Year” for his work during the 75th legislative session.
He served on House Natural Resources, Land and Resources Management, and Agriculture and Livestock committees and has been involved in most of the major legislative and policy changes Texas has seen in the areas of water planning and development. During the 79th legislative session he authored HB 1763, which altered the process by which groundwater conservation districts manage the aquifers in the state.
He currently is a partner in the government affairs consulting firm Eichler & Cook, LLC.
MACE— Robert Mace is the Executive Director and Chief Water Policy Officer of The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment, and a Professor of Practice in the Department of Geography at Texas State University.
Mace has over 30 years of experience in hydrology, hydro-geology, stakeholder processes and water policy, mostly in Texas. Before joining Texas State University in 2017, he worked at the Texas Water Development Board for 17 years, ending his career there as the deputy executive administrator for the water science and conservation office.
While at the board, he worked on understanding groundwater and surface- water resources in Texas and advancing water conservation and innovative water technologies such as desalination, aquifer storage and recovery, reuse and rainwater harvesting, and protecting Texans from floods.
Prior to joining the Texas Water Development Board, he worked nine years at the Bureau of Economic Geology at The University of Texas at Austin as a hydrologist and research scientist.
Mace 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 Hydro-geology from The University of Texas at Austin.
WESTBROOK— A Milano native, Gary Westbrook graduated from Sam Houston State University with a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture Education. He has served as the general manager for Post Oak Savannah Groundwater Conservation District since its beginning in 2003 and is the POSGCD’s representative on Groundwater Management Area 8 and 12.
He also serves as a local pastor at the United Methodist Church, and is the owner of Westbrook Angus Farms founded 50 years ago by Gary and his father, the late Garland Westbrook.
He served as president of the Texas Alliance of Groundwater Districts from 2005 to 2007 and currently represents Groundwater Management Area 12 on the Brazos G Regional Water Planning Group.
In his community, Gary was a School Board Trustee for 13 years and past-President of Milam County Community Foundation.
For a detailed agenda of the Summit, please visit https://posgcd.org/groundwater- summit/.
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