FIELD NOTES

AQUIFER MANAGEMENT SERVICES

CONCEPTUAL RENDERING, EAA FIELD RESEARCH OBSERVATORY

The Aquifer Management Services Division is subdivided into four distinct program areas that support the mission of the division and the Edwards Aquifer Authority. Through these program areas the division conducts work that contributes to sustainable management and protection of the aquifer system. Divisional products include: Assessment and inspection of conservation easements; modeling of groundwater and watersheds;

research focused on system behavior and vulnerability; and collection and management of a vast array of data. In January of 2020, the division acquired a 151-acre property that will serve as a focal area for long term research in support of aquifer sustainability. Deemed the Field Research Park, the property is located over the environmentally sensitive Edwards Aquifer Recharge Zone. Future work at the Field Research Park is focused on conducting long term observations of hydrologic and geochemical behavior of groundwater, surface water, soils, and other parameters that may influence quality and quantity of water that recharges the aquifer system. The division comprises the following departments: Aquifer Protection, Aquifer Science and Research, Modeling, and Data Management.

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AERIAL VIEW OF SITE FOR FIELD RESEARCH OBSERVATORY

The Aquifer Protection Team provides geologic assessments and monitors conservation easements for the City of San Antonio Edwards Aquifer Protection Program. The division also gathers and categorizes aquifer recharge feature data, maintains aquifer recharge enhancement dams, and provides funding incentives for agricultural producers to implement land stewardship practices that benefit the aquifer.

Mr. Boenig joined the EAA in June 2015 and oversees the development and implementation of the EAA’s aquifer protection initiatives. Mr. Boenig has over 30 years of diversified civil engineering and management experience in private and governmental service. His experience includes wastewater treatment, water/ wastewater conveyance, storm water management, stream restoration, and land development projects. Mr. Boenig holds a B.S. degree in Agricultural Engineering from Texas A&M University.

James Boenig, P.E., Director, Aquifer Protection

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Mr. Schindel has been with the EAA since April 1999 and is internationally recognized as an expert in karst hydrology. In his 40-year work history, Geary has published numerous papers and reports including national guidance documents on karst protection for the US EPA. He manages the EAA geologic assessment program and serves as a technical resource to staff and as organizer of the Distinguished Lecture Series. He has served as the Vice President of the South Texas Geological Society and is the President of the National Speleological Society. Mr. Schindel holds a B.S. in Geology from the West Virginia University and M.S in Physical Geology/Karst Hydrogeology from Western Kentucky University.

Geary Schindel, P.G., Chief Technical Officer

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Mr. Marsalia has been with the EAA since May 2012, bringing 10 years of technical experience from the U.S. Air Force and aerospace industry. Thomas has since served in multiple positions at the EAA where he has experience collecting data relating to water quality and quantity within surface and ground water systems. Thomas currently oversees the annual monitoring of over 160,000 acres of conservation easement properties with City of San Antonio Edwards Aquifer Protection Program, EAA Geographic Information Systems, and Environmental Spill Reporting programs. Mr. Marsalia earned a B.S. in Environmental Management from the University of Houston – Clear Lake.

Thomas Marsalia, Aquifer Protection Supervisor

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Ms. Thompson was hired by the EAA in May 2000. She has served in multiple positions at the EAA. In her current position at the EAA, Emily’s tasks are recharge zone protection and research, spill response and overseeing remediation, first responder collaboration, cave and other sensitive feature location, complaint investigations, and she assists with conservation easement monitoring and geological assessments. In addition, Emily serves as a liaison with staff of other water agencies and emergency personnel regarding aquifer protection issues. Ms. Thompson holds a B.S. in Marine Science from Texas A&M University and M.S. in Environmental Science from University of Texas at San Antonio.

Emily Thompson, Senior Water Quality Coordinator

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Mr. Loera was hired by the EAA in December 2005 and has been with the Aquifer Protection team since January 2019, where he leads the coordination, monitoring, and reporting for the Edwards Aquifer Protection Program conservation easements. Roel has extensive experience geophysical logging of wells. He holds a B.S. in Range and Wildlife Management from Texas A&M University – Kingsville. Roel also provides expertise conducting bird and vegetation surveys for the Field Research Park and easement properties. regarding construction, compliance, video, and

Roel Loera, Aquifer Protection Coordinator

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AERIAL VIEW OF SITE FOR FIELD RESEARCH OBSERVATORY AT THE CIBOLO VISTA TRACT

The Aquifer Science & Research Team performs several data collection tasks to include water chemistry samples, stream flow measurements, and research related water level transect data sets. This team is also responsible for turning the data into answers through research. For example, projects such as the Interformational Flow Study and conducted Vulnerability Assessment Study are by this team.

Mr. Bertetti oversees the development and implementation of the EAA’s research program and aquifer science data collection activities. For more than 25 years, Mr. Bertetti has worked as a research scientist investigating a wide range of topics related to the hydrogeology and geochemistry of complex aquifer systems such as the Edwards, Carrizo-Wilcox, and Trinity aquifers. He has also conducted numerous in-field, laboratory, and modeling studies to examine the sorption and ion-exchange behavior of dissolved Mr. Bertetti holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Geology from the University of Texas at San Antonio.

F. Paul Bertetti Director, Aquifer Science

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Dr. Gary is a hydrogeologist specializing in karst aquifer investigations and the implications that these systems have for natural resource management. He has an extensive record of fieldbased research experience over the past 20 years and has applied multi-disciplinary approaches including geophysics, geomicrobiology, hydrology, field mapping, and geochemistry to a range of topics related to karst aquifers. He has expertise in multiple karst- related environments ranging from springs in the Texas Hill Country to some of the deepest underwater cave systems in the world, such as the Sistema Zatacon in Mexico. Dr. Gary holds a B.S. in Geology and a Ph.D. in Hydrogeology from the University of Texas at Austin, where he also serves as an adjunct faculty member and teaches Applied Karst Hydrogeology.

Marcus Gary, PH.D., P.G.

Field Operations Project Manager, Aquifer Science

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Mr. Doty has over a decade of professional experience and expertise with groundwater policy, management, and research. He has worked in multiple departments of the EAA including water well construction and compliance, public outreach and education, groundwater policy and management, and scientific research. Mr. Doty received a B.S. in Geology from Brigham Young University- Idaho, an M.A. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Texas at San Antonio and is pursuing an M.S. in Natural Resources from Oregon State University.

Brent Doty, P.G. Research Manager, Aquifer Science

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Mr. Esquilin has over 20 years of experience in groundwater monitoring, sampling, and the geophysical methods in karst aquifer application of systems. He has coordinated several regional synoptic water-level surveys and participated in several tracer studies, which have helped to discern regional hydraulic gradients and flow directions. Mr. Esquilin received a B.S. degree in Geology from Boston College and an M.S. degree in Geology with specialization in Hydrogeology from the University of Rhode Island.

Roberto (Rob) Esquilin, P.G. Senior Hydrogeologist, Aquifer Science

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Ms. Adkins Schudrowitz has been with the EAA since June 2013 and has experience conducting field and experimental investigations to evaluate and understand the geologic structure and hydraulics of groundwater systems. Her responsibilities at the EAA include a wide variety of activities related to groundwater research and conservation. Ms. Adkins Schudrowitz earned B.S. and M.S. degrees in Geology from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville.

Jennifer Adkins Schudrowitz, P.G. Hydrogeologist, Aquifer Science

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Dr. Luevano has over 18 years of experience coordinating a wide variety of water quality and quantity monitoring projects for the EAA. She also coordinates daily tasks associated with data collection and evaluation and supervises the internship program for the Aquifer Management Services division. Dr. Luevano earned her B.A. in Geology from St. Mary’s University, an M.S. in Environmental Management from Duquesne University, and an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership from the University of New England, where she serves as an adjunct faculty advisor.

Gizelle Luevano, Ed.D., P.G. Lead Hydrologic Data Coordinator, Aquifer Science

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The Modeling Team is responsible for groundwater and watershed models for the Edwards Aquifer. This team is also responsible for developing and analyzing the input data sets needed for conducting model runs and model updates. Recently, this team completed the process of rebuilding the EAA’s MODFLOW model, incorporating the most recent updates to the conceptual model of the aquifer. The modeling team is also researching ways to improve recharge estimation and analyze potential impacts to recharge that may result from climate change model predictions for the region.

AERIAL VIEW OF SITE FOR FIELD RESEARCH OBSERVATORY AT THE CIBOLO VISTA TRACT, OVERSEEING THE TCP SAN ANTONIO GOLF COURSE

Mr. Winterle oversees the development of regional groundwater and watershed models used to improve our understanding of the Edwards Aquifer system and support water resource management decisions. He is a licensed Professional Geoscientist in the State of Texas and holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Hydrology from the University of Arizona. Prior to working for the EAA, he was a group manager at Southwest Research Institute’s Center for Nuclear Waste Regulatory Analyses, where he led the development of multi- system performance assessment models to evaluate the safety performance of high-level nuclear waste disposal systems. In addition to hydrological science, he has expertise and research interests in statistical forecasting methods, climate science, and risk communication.

Jim Winterle, Director, Modeling

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Dr. Basagaoglu is a numerical modeler with more than 20 years of academic and industry experience, specializing in numerical model and code development, computational methods, surface and subsurface flow, subsurface contaminant transport, water resources management, data analysis, statistics and machine/deep learning, and safety evaluation and environmental impacts assessments. He has worked on diverse projects involving prediction of watershedscale precipitation, potential evaporation, and aquifer recharge, considering the effect of climate change, development of water management models for optimal capacity expansion of multi-aquifer systems and conjunctive use of groundwater and surface water supplies, numerical simulations and long- term prediction of groundwater overdraft-induced land subsidence, assessment of the

Hakan Basagaoglu, PH.D., Senior Modeler

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role of epikarst in aquifer recharge, field-scale simulations of thermal, hydrological, saturated/ unsaturated flow in fractured and granular porous domains as part of coupled thermal-hydrologic- mechanical-chemical processes in international radioactive waste disposal program site selection for municipal solid waste using GIS, and development of various pore-scale numerical models to simulate the flow of single-phase, multiphase, and colloidal particles in Darcy or turbulent flow regimes in heterogeneous flow domains. Dr. Basagaoglu holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Geological Engineering from the Middle East Technical University in Turkey, and a Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of California, Davis.

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Dr. Yang is a groundwater modeler with more than 20 years’ experience in geochemical and reactive transport modeling and inverse modeling of non- isothermal flow in subsurface. His research experience includes development of a near-surface observatory for monitoring plugged and abandoned wells at carbon sequestration sites, assessing potential impacts of CO2 leakage on groundwater quality using Single-well Push- pull tests and conducting field tests of dissolved CO2 monitoring for leakage detection in shallow aquifers. Dr. Yang has published more than 50 peer-reviewed papers in various journals, including

Changbing Yang, Ph.D., Senior Modeler

Water Resource Research, Environmental Science & Technology.

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Currently, Dr. Yang serves as an editorial member for Scientific Reports and Hydrogeology Journal. Dr. Yang holds a B.S. in Hydrogeology and M.S in Hydrogeology from Changchun College of Geology (Jilin University), China, and a Ph.D. in Hydrogeology from University of La Coruña, Spain., University of California, Davis.

The Data Management Team manages data collection, storage, and dissemination programs within the AMS Division, with emphasis on continuous data collection utilizing remote telemetry systems. The division maintains over 70 rain gauges, 10 weather stations, and 40 water level observation wells in 11 counties. Once collected, the team checks the data for errors then publishes the information for internal and external customers. This team is also responsible for development of data collection procedures and database management.

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Mr. Anderson directs the Environmental Data Collection and Data Management effort, includingthe EAA telemetry network. He has over 13 years’ experience in groundwater data collection and dissemination, working with agencies at the federal, state and local levels along with private landowners and stakeholders. He led the effort to redesign several Texas statewide groundwater databases and web applications for greater accessibility to customers. Mr. Anderson received a B.S. in Geography and a M.S. in Natural Resources Management from Texas State University at San Marcos.

Bryan Anderson, Director, Data Management

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Edwards Aquifer Authority 900 E. Quincy, San Antonio, TX, 78215 edwardsaquifer.org | 210.222.2204