2026 Water Wonks Hour Lecture Series #2: Building a Grassroots Movement to Protect Urban Waterways in San Antonio
The Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance is pleased to introduce our 2026 Water Wonks Lecture Series. Mark your calendars for 3:30 p.m. on the 4th Wednesday of each month. Water Wonks will feature a host of experts sharing innovative ideas and details about their work in the world of water. The series is a free community education opportunity.
REGISTRATION WILL BE AVAILABLE BEGINNING JANUARY 29TH.
Beginning Jan. 29, 2026 a registration form will be provided below where you may express your intention to attend this lecture.
Meeting details and zoom link will be sent to your email following your registration.
Lecture #2 Building a Grassroots Movement to Protect Urban Waterways in San Antonio Speaker: Brendan Gibbons, Board President, River Aid San Antonio
Speaker: Brendan Gibbons, Board President, River Aid San Antonio
Bio: Brendan Gibbons is president of the board of River Aid San Antonio, a 501c3 nonprofit founded in 2021 to promote and facilitate stewardship of the San Antonio River Basin through volunteer opportunities and community engagement. Gibbons has worked for over a decade as an environmental journalist in San Antonio, formerly covering the city’s water and energy utilities, the Edwards Aquifer, land use, endangered species recovery, and outdoor recreation. In his day job, Gibbons works as a writer/editor for Oil & Gas Watch News, an initiative of the Environmental Integrity Project, an environmental watchdog group. He is also a member of the Alamo Chapter of Texas Master Naturalists.
Synopsis: Brendan Gibbons will discuss River Aid San Antonio’s (RASA’s) efforts to raise an army of volunteer stewards to help keep the San Antonio River and its tributaries clean and thriving. RASA hosts multiple watershed cleanup events per month where volunteers remove thousands of pounds of litter from streams. Since the group’s founding, RASA volunteers have removed more than 600,000 pounds of waste from the San Antonio River and its tributaries. RASA has also accepted the leadership baton for Basura Bash, the largest single-day trash cleanup event in Texas, an event that drew 2,130 volunteers in 2025, its 30th year. Gibbons will also discuss RASA’s small but growing network of water quality monitoring sites via Texas Stream Team, which trains citizen scientists to conduct monthly water quality monitoring of local waterways. Gibbons will also detail RASA’s partnership with GEAA on a water quality retrofit on HOA property at Lorence Creek, which helps improve the quality of stormwater flowing into the Edwards Aquifer Recharge Zone.
Stay tuned for additional monthly lecture topics coming in 2026!
