Barney Austin has worked in the field of water resources for more than 23 years. With a Bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Engineering and a PhD in Civil Engineering, he specializes in water supply planning, hydrology, hydraulics, and environmental flows. He has lived and worked in Canada and England, and has been in the United States for the last 17 years. The former director of the Surface Water Division of the Texas Water Development Board, he was an active participant in the development of state water plans in Texas, Oklahoma and California, and oversaw nine surface water programs. Barney has managed many large projects and diverse groups of people, successfully bridging the gap between technical and non-technical stakeholders as well as the private and public sectors. He now heads up Aqua Strategies Inc.
License #100370 (Texas)

Tim Osting is a professional engineer working from the field and from the office on water resources topics since 1996. Specializing in hydrology, hydraulics, water quality and environmental flows, Tim has successfully designed and implemented complex, multi-agency, multi-year, multi-disciplinary field data collection and modeling programs to answer water supply policy and permitting decisions.
Tim collaborates with resource agencies, university researchers and stakeholder groups on complicated water resources projects involving watersheds, rivers, lakes and coasts. Tim strives to increase understanding of environmental systems by using grounded field data and well-interpreted modeling of water quality, water quantity, sediments, and multi-dimensional hydrodynamics.
License #91931 (Texas)

Clint Walker has 28 years of experience in water resources management and engineering, focused on developing facility and water management plans, as well as conjunctive water use/water reclamation projects. He has managed multi-disciplinary program, project, and design teams responsible for planning, design and construction services of water, wastewater and water reclamation systems.

Mr. Walker has conducted studies and authored papers on water supply planning; water treatment and distribution; reclaimed water treatment, distribution and user retrofits; wastewater collection, treatment, and disposal; and groundwater recharge and reuse. He also specializes in resolving construction claims/disputes and implementing various methods of alternative project delivery.
License #87135 (Texas); #C-24149 (Arizona); #C-10048 (Nevada); #185030 (California); #27628 (Oklahoma)

Frank Schalla is a professional engineer who has worked in the field of water resources for over 8 years. He specializes in using scientific methods to answer difficult questions related to water availability, water supply planning, and hydrology and hydraulics across Texas and Oklahoma. He works on large to small scale projects involving watersheds, lakes, coasts and rivers. Before working at Aqua Strategies Frank worked internationally, developing and managing rural water projects in West Africa and Central America. His international experience of working directly with community members and local leaders has driven his approach to understanding and addressing clients’ needs. He holds a master’s degree in Environmental and Water Resources Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin.

License # 132038 (Texas); # 30723 (Oklahoma)

Elise Dominey is our Office Administrator and Bookkeeper. Elise is a certified legal secretary and has had various Office Manager, executive assistant, administrative, receptionist and accounting duties, through companies including PricewaterhouseCoopers in Dallas and RE/MAX in Austin. Elise formerly worked for the Dripping Springs Water Supply Corporation as their Corporate Bookkeeper, handling payroll, financial reporting, and accounts payable and receivable.

Justin is Professional Engineer and Certified Floodplain Manager with experience in a variety of water resources engineering projects, including hydrologic and hydraulic modeling, water availability studies, and watershed planning. He previously worked for a large engineering consulting firm on flood modeling and dam assessment projects across Texas, and also had the opportunity to work under FEMA’s Public Assistance program following Hurricane Harvey. Justin holds Master’s degrees from the University of Texas at Austin in Environmental and Water Resources Engineering and Global Policy Studies. He was raised in Botswana and Zimbabwe, and has a continuing interest in both the engineering and policy aspects of international development. TBPE EIT Number: 55146.

Georganna is a registered landscape architect focusing on ecological restoration solutions for streams, wetlands and coastal environments. Her Master’s in Landscape Architecture combined with her Bachelor’s in Mining Engineering informs her passion for “engineering with nature”, the practice of incorporating natural and nature-based features into her projects to enhance their sustainability and resilience. She prepares planning documents, permit applications, construction drawings, and supervises construction activities. As project manager on multiple, high-profile projects, Georganna has helped diverse stakeholder groups find common ground through integrating public comments in her plans and designs to achieve multiple benefits and community support. She is currently serving on a Corps of Engineers workgroup tasked with writing the guidance manual for the incorporation of “engineering with nature” principles on all future federal civil works projects.

David has diverse experience with environmental and energy management consulting over his 30-year career, which has been informed by his multidisciplinary degree in Environmental Science. He has worked with both government and private industry to ensure projects move forward with early consideration and incorporation of sustainable and resilient design elements. Governmental clients include Corps of Engineers, Army, Air Force and Bureau of Land Management, as well as various state agencies overseeing water resources, energy development, hazardous waste sites and energy efficiency. His private sector experience includes wind and solar renewable energy development, electric transmission, oil & gas pipelines, and transportation projects. David enjoys working with diverse technical teams, community stakeholders, regulators and client representatives to achieve successful outcomes.

Mark Null joins Aqua Strategies after a distinguished and highly decorated federal service career that spanned both military and civilian leadership positions. Since 2014, Mark served as the Hydrologist in Charge (HIC) at NOAA’s National Weather Service, West Gulf River Forecast Center (WGRFC) in Fort Worth, TX. Prior to this assignment, he served in senior leadership roles with the U.S. Geological Survey in San Antonio, TX, the U.S. Army’s Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) in Vicksburg, MS, and the Naval Oceanographic Office at Stennis Space Center, MS. Prior to entering the federal civilian workforce, Mark proudly served as an U.S. Navy Meteorologic and Oceanographic Officer (METOC) for nearly 23 years, retiring at the rank of Commander. As HIC for the NWS WGRFC, Mark oversaw and managed an operationally active office with an area of responsibility of over 402,000 mi2, 320 river forecast points and spanning 15 major river basins across Texas and New Mexico. Mark led the development of strong collaborative engagements and communication of flood forecast products and services with fellow NWS field offices, federal and state partners, and emergency management officials. Operationally, he led and directed the WGRFC team in providing continuous flood forecasting services during numerous historic and record setting flood events in Texas between 2017 and 2019 including the catastrophic flooding associated with Hurricane Harvey and the rapid onset flooding along the Blanco River in the Texas Hill Country. During his tenure, he led national NOAA teams to develop an operational requirements document for Rapid Onset Flooding Services and led a U.S. Department of Commerce initiative to demonstrate the use of flood inundation mapping across Texas in close coordination with the National Water Center in Tuscaloosa, AL and the Texas Division of Emergency Management. Mark’s deep knowledge and understanding of operational flood management, planning and response – combined with his collaborative networking skills and strategic partnerships – are invaluable assets to Aqua Strategies.

Paul Southard is a professional geologist with a background in hydrology and geomorphology. He has 3 years of experience working with landowners, municipalities, states and other organizations to creatively solve water and sediment issues on the computer and in the field. At Aqua Strategies, Paul primarily works on projects involving groundwater, water quality modeling, sediment transport modeling and water availability modeling. He started his career at the Massachusetts Geological Survey and, prior to joining Aqua Strategies, worked at a non-profit private research lab in Texas focusing primarily on hydrologic and groundwater modeling projects. He holds a Masters of Science in Geosciences from the University of Texas at Austin. Paul is passionate about using environmental models as a scientific tool to solve complex earth science problems, as well as making those tools free and open source.

License #15214 (TX)

John Millsap specializes in hydrology, hydraulics, drainage, and computer-aided design/3D modeling. Prior to joining Aqua Strategies, he worked in land development, focusing on single-family residential projects. John is an expert in 3D terrain and grading modeling, construction plan preparation, and has significant experience with permitting activities (TxDOT, FEMA, TCEQ, etc) and hydrologic/hydraulic modeling (HEC-HMS, HEC-RAS, etc).

EIT #63051 (Texas)

Mike Vielleux has over three decades of water resources management, flood mapping and prediction, H&H modeling, drainage design and environmental consulting experience, including 11 years with the Texas Water Development Board. He has initiated strategies to create policy frameworks in which he stood up data collection initiatives across agencies and stakeholders and interpreted and reported findings that informed policy directives. Mike has consulted on international water policy development in Mexico and engineered relevant pure water solutions through an international venture in Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Qatar. He has extensive experience in water engineering as a private, government and industry consultant. He brings expertise in residential and commercial water management, environmental needs, sustainability, flood risk and mitigation, system design and construction, instrumentation, data generation, modeling, and deployment of appropriate technologies. Mike’s latest achievement is 2D HEC-RAS flood modeling using time and spatially varied rainfall data. Mike has applied his unique skills in troubleshooting and optimizing to satisfy the diverse needs of a variety of stakeholders at site, watershed, and larger scales. His specialty is engineered solutions that are innovative, but grounded in common sense, promoting environmental quality, water conservation, land use planning, and sustainable engineering.

License #108182 (Texas); #32210 (Colorado)