Schreiner University is teaming up with Texas Tech University and Texas Public Radio to present a series of four lectures and forums about Texas water issues, including aquifer, river and bay sustainability, the science and policy of water issues and the role of conservation and education. The first event titled, “More precious than gold: The ethical, economic, legal and environmental implications of supplying 40 million people with water by 2050,” will be at Schreiner University at 7 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 20, in the Floyd & Kathleen Cailloux Campus Activity Center on the Schreiner campus. Speakers will be Joe Beal, general manager of the Lower Colorado River Authority; Bill West, general manager of the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority; and Robert Potts, president of the Dixon Water Foundation. Texas Tech University professor Bill Jeffery will moderate the discussion. Jeffery is deputy director of the Center for Water Law and Policy, and teaches courses in environmental and natural resource.

Prior to joining LCRA, Beal was senior vice president at Espey Huston & Associates, a large engineering and environmental consulting firm in Austin. He earned a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from Texas Tech University in 1968, followed by a master's degree of business administration in municipal finance from The University of Texas at Austin.

West began his water resources career in 1970 at the Lower Colorado River Authority. He was promoted to system operations manager in 1974, to water resources director in 1984 and in 1986 was named executive director of natural resources. At LCRA, West participated throughout the Texas Water Commission adjudication of the Colorado River initiated in the early 1970s. He was a key negotiator in several landmark water rights cases on the Colorado River and served on various state water oversight committees appointed by the governor. West has also participated in the development of the Balcones Canyon Conservation Plan in Travis County for the issuance of an Endangered Species Act 10-A permit.

Potts was recently appointed executive director of the Dixon Water Foundation. He came to the foundation from the Edwards Aquifer Authority, where he served as general manager. Before his position at EAA he was with the Westcave Preserve in Travis County, where he served as executive director. In that position, he was responsible for the creation of the Colorado River Watershed programs, expansion of education and outreach programs and development of partnerships with agencies, nonprofit organizations and landowners. Prior to that, Potts was employed by The Nature Conservancy as vice president of the south central division.

The Texas Water Symposium will have two fall events and two in the spring, with the second fall lecture and discussion in Fredericksburg on November 8. The spring events are scheduled for January 24 in Junction and March 6 at Schreiner University.

All of the forums will be taped and broadcast on Texas Public Radio subsequently. Listen to the first of the broadcasts Sept. 28 at 7 p.m. on KSTX 89.1 FM and KTXI 90.1 FM.

For more information about this series, please visit our Web site at http://www.schreiner.edu/water/index.htm. Or you can contact Bob Hickerson, chief operating officer for Texas Tech Division of Off-Campus Sites, at 830-990-2717 or 806-742-6440 or bob.hickerson@ttu.edu; or Dr. Tom Arsuffi at 325-446-2301 or tom.arsuffi@ttu.edu; or Dr. Mike Looney, provost and vice president for academic affairs and dean of faculty at Schreiner University, at 830-792-7371 or mlooney@schreiner.edu.