Texas+Water Editor-in-Chief Dr. Todd Votteler talks with Leah Martinsson, the Executive Director of the Texas Alliance of Groundwater Districts (TAGD). Martinsson joined TAGD as the executive director in March 2019. She recently relocated to Texas from Colorado, where she was a practicing water rights attorney for over 15 years. In her legal practice, she has represented the interests of a wide range of water users – from municipal water providers to agricultural well users.
In addition to obtaining new water rights and protecting existing rights for her clients, Martinsson also participated in Colorado’s statewide water planning process and associated water-related legislation. She has been active in Colorado’s efforts to develop alternative methods to permanent transfers of agricultural water to meet growing municipal demands, including the development and implementation of a temporary land fallowing – water leasing program. Martinsson obtained her undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin and her law degree from the University of Colorado-Boulder.