Todd Votteler, Ph.D., Editor-in-Chief and TWJ 501c3 Board Member

Todd Haydn Votteler, Ph.D. is the Principal of Collaborative Water Resolution LLC. Todd is an experienced environmental professional with expertise in conflict resolution, stakeholder engagement, and policy development. He holds a B.S. in Natural Resources from The University of the South, an M.S. in Natural Resources from The University of Michigan, and a Ph.D. in Environmental Geography from Texas State University. Todd has also earned certifications in Integrated Water Management, Water Reforms & Governance, Water Diplomacy, as well as Environmental Collaboration from the U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution. He is the co-founder and the Editor-in-Chief of the Texas Water Journal, the Editor-in-Chief of Texas+Water, and the host of Talk+Water podcast. Todd is a Fellow of the Meadows Center for Water and the Environment at Texas State University, a member of the Advisory Committee for the Permanent Forum of Binational Waters (Rio Grande/Rio Bravo del Norte water issues). He is also a Partner at Four Worlds Consulting, where he helps stakeholders resolve water and environmental conflicts.        

In 1996, after serving as the Assistant to the Federal Court Monitor during the Sierra Club v. Babbitt, Votteler was appointed by Senior U.S. District Court Judge Lucius Bunton as the Federal Special Master for the Edwards Aquifer Endangered Species Act litigation, Sierra Club v. San Antonio. In 2013, he was part of group that received the Partners for Conservation Award from the U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell for work resolving the Edwards Aquifer conflict. In 2016, he negotiated an agreement between The Aransas Project and GBRA resolving a conflict over surface water use and potential impacts to the endangered whooping crane. 

Votteler was a co-trainer for the 2018 Fellows Program at The University of Texas at Austin School of Law’s Center for Public Policy Dispute Resolution. In 2018, he was a faculty member for the National Judicial College’s Dividing the Waters program for judges in Reno, Nevada. In 2018 and 2020 he was a co-trainer for the Water Conflict and Transformation Workshop at the AWRA Annual Conference. In 2019, Votteler lectured in China on transboundary water conflicts. 

From 2000 to 2017, Votteler worked for the Guadalupe–Blanco River Authority where he was Executive Manager of Science, Intergovernmental Relations, and Policy. He also served as the Chairman of the Guadalupe Basin Coalition. In addition, he worked as a Research Scientist in Washington, D.C. for the Battelle - Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and served as Executive Director of the Guadalupe-Blanco River Trust and as Chairman of the Texas Land Trust Council.