talk+water: Brigid Shea

talk+water: Brigid Shea

In this conversation, Dr. Todd Votteler, Principal of Collaborative Water Resolution and Editor-in-Chief of Texas+Water and the Texas Water Journal, talks with Brigid Shea, Travis County Commissioner, about water conservation efforts in Travis County.

Brigid is a former award-winning reporter at National Public Radio who has been fighting climate change in Texas since 1988. Along the way, she worked to save Austin’s iconic Barton Springs, organizing a massive city-wide ballot initiative that resulted in the historic Save Our Springs (SOS) law to save Barton Springs. As a former Austin City Council member, she helped create the first wind project in Texas and championed consumer, electoral, and environmental reforms.

Since being elected to the Travis County Commissioners Court in 2014, she has won a national award for critical water conservation efforts through the use of reclaimed treated wastewater for non-drinking purposes like air conditioning and plumbing in several county buildings.

Brigid previously served on the National Board of Clean Water Action and the State Board of the Texas Campaign for the Environment.