Water and the Built Environment: Design for Resilience
Tuesday, September 17, 2024
Virtual Session
12:00 - 1:00 PM
About the Presentation:
Join us for a thought-provoking webinar featuring three distinguished experts who will share their insights on sustainable design and water management. The first presentation will focus on Landscape Design and Irrigation, showcasing techniques to optimize water use in outdoor spaces. Following this, we'll explore the Go Purple initiative, examining its role in advancing environmental stewardship. The final presentation will cover Water Conservation and Sustainable Initiatives, offering practical solutions for reducing water consumption and enhancing sustainability efforts. Throughout the session, a moderator will guide the discussion, introducing each speaker and leading a comprehensive Q&A session with contributions from the audience.
Moderator:
Lindsey Machamer is the Division Manager for Park Development with the City of Austin Parks and Recreation Department. Her work facilitates the development, improvement, and preservation of Austin’s parkland for future generations by focusing on sustainable, resilient, and equitable development of parks, trails, pools, and urban spaces. Lindsey has a background as a civil engineer with a focus on sustainability and resilience. Lindsey has her LEED AP BD+C, SITES AP, and Envision SP and is excited about the portfolio of SITES registered projects in development by the City of Austin right now. Her previous experience includes work at Austin Energy Green Building commercial team where she worked with the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport on their green building goals and work at Civil Engineering firm, Pare Corporation, where she designed sites and and stormwater management projects. Lindsey came to Austin from New England four years ago and has fallen in love with all that Austin has to offer.
Speakers:
Chris Maxwell-Gaines is a professional engineer and owner of Innovative Water Solutions LLC. Since 2004, IWS has been a full-service design / build company passionately committed to providing comprehensive, sustainable, and absolute water management and conservation solutions, utilizing alternative water sources and stormwater management for residential and commercial projects. IWS focuses on systems such as rainwater collection, graywater reuse, stormwater management, and green infrastructure. To date, IWS has installed over 10,000,000 gallons of rainwater storage capacity across the state of Texas.
Marisa Flores Gonzalez leads the Water Resources Team at Austin Water and serves as the project manager for Water Forward, Austin’s 100-year Integrated Water Resource Plan. Ms. Flores Gonzalez has thirteen years of experience working in local government and utilities in multiple areas including water supply, water distribution, wastewater collection, and stormwater management planning. She brings a holistic approach to water planning, with a belief in the value of community engagement and adaptive management to create a resilient and equitable water future for the Austin community. Ms. Flores Gonzalez holds a B.A. in Geography and the Environment from the University of Texas at Austin and a Master’s in Public Administration from Texas State University.
Michael Meihaus is Principal and Studio Director for Studio Balcones specializing in landscape architectural construction management, environmental restoration and recreation. His wide-range of experience includes design and construction of parks and trails as well as ecological and wild-land restoration implementation. From 2013 to 2019, Michael served as Restoration Program Manager for Fred Phillips Consulting, designing and building over 40 ecological restoration and recreation projects across the West including Texas. Before that, Michael served with the National Park Service on the Elwha Dam Removal Project in Olympic National Park overseeing re-vegetation and ecological monitoring efforts.
