The Recharge Zone Podcast

30 years, 1 aquifer, and 3 pillars to the Edwards Aquifer Authority (EAA) mission - Manage, Enhance, and Protect the Edwards Aquifer. On this episode we celebrate where the agency has been and where it is going with EAA General Manager Roland Ruiz. Tune in as hosts Brent and Ann-Margaret recount the past with Roland, talk about how the agency has evolved, and what is on the horizon for the EAA, an...

Hosts Brent and Ann-Margaret welcome Sara Beesley, Edwards Aquifer Authority (EAA) Chief Development Officer and Executive Director for the Edwards Aquifer Conservancy (EAC), as she shares insights about her new role and gives an overview of the EAC's nonprofit work and initiatives. For over the past 10 years the EAC, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization set up exclusively for the benefit of the EAA,...

Welcome back to another season of the Recharge Zone Podcast! Hosts Brent, Logan, and Ann-Margaret gather together to discuss aquifer facts, myths, and everything in between. Listen along as they shed light on the fascinating characteristics of the Edwards Aquifer! 

Explore the fundamentals of hydrogeology with EAA Principal Geoscientist, Logan Schmidt, as he discusses the world of groundwater with world renowned hydrogeologist Dr. John "Jack" M. Sharp. Dr. Sharp, professor emeritus in Geology at the University of Texas at Austin, is internationally recognized for his research on groundwater flow, karstic aquifers, urban hydrogeology, and the Edwards Aquifer.

The Edwards Aquifer Authority Field Research Park (EAA FRP) is a hub for groundwater-related sustainability and aquifer behavior research where EAA staff are demonstrating and evaluating various land management practices and their potential effects on aquifer sustainability. The hypothesis driving the work is that the practices offer potential for improved soil health, added soil water holding cap...

EAA Principal Geoscientist, Logan Schmidt, sat down with Dr. George Veni, Karst hydrogeologist, to discuss the cave features of the Edwards Aquifer that are mostly unseen and how hydrogeologists that study these caves gain insight into how the aquifer system works.  

Over the past decade, EAA General Manager Roland Ruiz has seen many initiatives come to fruition as imagination, innovation, and inclusion have been at the forefront of growing the agency into what it is today. Tune in as Roland reflects on where the agency has been and where it is going with hosts Ann-Margaret and Brent.

Paul Bertetti, EAA Senior Director Aquifer Science Research & Modeling, sat down with hosts Brent and Ann-Margaret to discuss amazing facts you might not know about the Edwards Aquifer!

On this episode, Brent and Ashley, our guest co-host, discuss the importance of ecology with EAA's Jewell Cozort and Casey Cowan. Jewell and Casey share their knowledge of ecology, and how the interactions between organisms and their environment take shape within the Edwards Aquifer System. 

Listen along to Brent and Ann-Margaret as they close out the year with an episode all about the EAA's 2024 highlights. The new year will bring impactful initiatives for our agency as we continue to carry out our mission of managing, enhancing, and protecting the Edwards Aquifer!

On this historic episode, hosts Brent and Ann-Margaret sit down with Edwards Aquifer Authority (EAA) General Manager, Roland Ruiz; EAA Executive Director for Communications and Development, Michael De La Garza; and EAA Creative Manager for Communications and Development, Ed Flores, as they share how the EAA is rebranding. They will discuss how the EAA brand has evolved over the past 28 years, the...

On this episode, hosts Ann-Margaret and Brent catch up with Isabel Martinez, EAA Senior Permit and Conservation Coordinator, as she discusses the importance of agriculture out West and the EAA's Groundwater Conservation Grant Program.

EAA General Manager Roland Ruiz met with hosts Brent and Ann-Margaret, earlier this month, to discuss aquifer conditions, managing through drought, and the evolution of the agency that has occurred over the past 28 years. 

The vadose zone, also known as the unsaturated zone, is a critical part of the research happening at the EAA Field Research Park (EAA FRP), and Logan Schmidt, EAA Senior Modeler, joins us on this episode to discuss this intriguing piece of the aquifer system. From defining what the unsaturated zone is to sharing the special techniques used to study this important area, Logan offers insight into ho...

Monitoring groundwater quality and quantity has always been an important aspect of the Edwards Aquifer Authority's (EAA) mission and core value of science-based policy. The addition of the EAA's Field Research Park (FRP) property in 2019 provided a unique opportunity to closely study the behavior and characteristics of the aquifer system over the Edwards Aquifer Recharge Zone. In 2023, the EAA ins...

The inaugural Edwards Aquifer Summit was held this past October, and featured informative presentations from EAA General Manager Roland Ruiz, EAA Deputy General Manager Marc Friberg, EAA Executive Director of Aquifer Management Services Mark Hamilton, and EAA Executive Director for Threatened and Endangered Species Scott Storment. Tune in as Brent and Ann-Margaret provide some recaps and highlight...

The EAA has provided internship opportunities for a wide range of fields, from science to communications, and over the years many students have worked alongside EAA staff to gain enriching experiences that have set the foundation for their careers. Tune in to this episode, where hosts Ann-Margaret and Brent, interview Destiny, Karen, and Sarah about their internship experiences at the EAA, and whe...

For the past 20 years the EAA has taken a proactive approach to making rain clouds more productive by partnering with the Evergreen Underground Water Conservation District (UWCD) to perform cloud seeding operations. This initiative at our agency is known as the Precipitation Enhancement Program.  The actual cloud seeding is performed by the South Texas Weather Modification Association  (STWMA), wh...

On this episode of the Recharge Zone Podcast, hosts Ann-Margaret and Brent hit the road to interview Robert Mace in San Marcos, TX aboard a glass bottom boat! Learn about the The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment, the threatened and endangered species that live in the Edwards Aquifer, and more. Robert Mace is the Executive Director and Chief Water Policy Officer at The Meadows Center fo...

On this episode, Ann-Margaret and Brent visit with Darcy Frownfelter, EAA's longtime general counsel. Darcy discusses how the EAA came into existence through the EAA Act as well as some highlights of his career so far.  The EAA Act created the Edwards Aquifer Authority (EAA) as a groundwater conservation district, which granted the EAA all of the powers, rights, and privileges necessary to manage,...

This season on the Recharge Zone Podcast brought a lot of great guests talking about the Edwards Aquifer and the work of our agency. From our GM Roland Ruiz's discussion on drought management to the last episode where hosts Ann-Margaret and Brent welcomed Brock Curry to discuss his 26 year career at the EAA, and most recently saying farewell to our EAA board of directors' chair Luana Buckner. List...

Brock Curry EAA Deputy General Manager has had a memorable 26-year career at the EAA, from being one of the first employees hired at the agency to seeing the evolution of the EAA as a groundwater conservation district! Hosts Ann-Margaret and Brent sit down with Brock to reminisce on highlights, words of advice, and the lasting impression Brock will leave on the agency.

Research on the recharge zone has continued at the EAA Field Research Park in a big way this season with LiDAR drone surveys conducted by a PhD student from the University of Texas to help identify landform changes over time, EAA Scientists working with graduate students from the University of Texas at San Antonio to describe and log drill cuttings from research boreholes, and Nuclear Magnetic Res...

On this episode, hosts Ann-Margaret and Brent are joined by EAA Senior Hydrogeologist Dr. Gizelle Luevano. She's conducted countless water quality samplings, from wells, rivers, and springs. Hear her field stories and how water quality sampling technology has evolved over the years as she's collected data from all across the EAA's jurisdiction!

ET, in this case evapotranspiration, is the elusive process by which water moves from earth's surface into the atmosphere, and hosts Brent and Ann-Margaret discussed this with EAA's Principal Geoscientist Marcus Gary. Learn about eddy covariance towers, and how they play an important role in understanding a myriad of observations occurring in the atmosphere and from the soil.