Rocky Mountain Water – Issue 3, 2024

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A JOINT PUBLICATION OF ROCKY MOUNTAIN SECTION of the AMERICAN WATER WORKS ASSOCIATION & ROCKY MOUNTAIN WATER ENVIRONMENT ASSOCIATION

Rocky Mountain Water Magazine Group

The following volunteers support RMSAWWA and RMWEA with content collection, management, editing, and reviewing the magazine.

BLAIR CORNING bcorning@englewoodco.gov

HANNAH FODOR hfodor@carollo.com

RORY FRANKLIN rfrankli@auroragov.org

KARI LARESE klarese@highlsandsranch.org

RMSAWWA Communications Committee

KARI LARESE, Co-Chair klarese@highlandsranch.org

RORY FRANKLIN, Co-Chair rfrankli@auroragov.org

ERIN RIDOLFO, eNewsletter Editor eridolfo@rmsawwa.org

RMWEA Communications Committee

ELIZABETH DEWAARD, Chair edewaard@englewoodco.gov

JORI NELSON, eNewsletter Editor jnelson@waterrf.org

NATALIE COOK, eNewsletter Reviewer ncook@auroragov.org

ANDREW DUGAN, eNewsletter Reviewer andrew@andrewwritescopy.com

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FROM THE RMSAWWA CHAIR

Achieving Effective Utility Management (EUM) Amongst Our Organizations

Charlie Leder, PE, RMSAWWA Chair, Senior Associate at Hazen and Sawyer

Effective utility management (EUM) is the theme for this May/June issue of Rocky Mountain Water Magazine It’s a goal for which all RMSAWWA members strive for, no matter the specific role we play beneath the umbrella of providing utility services to our customers. Think of providing utility services as living somewhere within a seven-sided polygon. Depending on our job, and hopefully, it’s one we enjoy, the specific neighborhood corner in which our fellow RMSAWWA members hang out could be that of a utility service provider, professional service providers, also known as consulting engineers, builders/constructors of utility infrastructure (no offense meant to those utility folks that do some of their construction work in-house), manufacturers of infrastructure components and the folks who try to sell them, regulators who establish the baseline rules for how utility systems should be run, the academic and research community members who study and dream new ways and methods for utility systems to be more effective, and non-government organizations (NGO) who provide advocacy on utility issues for the underserved and underrepresented. Like Adam Smith’s invisible hand metaphor that was thought to provide the external economic pressure for private enterprises to do good, NGO members make us think harder about the course we are taking to provide effective utility services. Are we being efficient? Perhaps. Are we being effective? Better look at the map again and check the direction in which we are really headed.

Effective utility management (EUM) is the theme for this May/June issue of Rocky Mountain Water Magazine. It’s a goal for which all RMSAWWA members strive for, no matter the specific role we play beneath the umbrella of providing utility services to our customers.

Much has been written on approaches to achieving EUM that appear to speak just to utility organizations but are probably adaptable to any of the seven neighborhood corners described above. Maybe we should rename the overall concept as effective enterprise management. The process now in place had its origins in 2008 when six water sector agencies, including AWWA and WEF, came together with EPA to address the then-perceived challenges of utility service delivery, which at the time included aging infrastructure, increased costs, tighter regulations, changing/aging workforce, climate change and a demand for more accountability to utility customers and ratepayers. It’s probably no coincidence that this initial launch to define EUM happened at the time of the Great Recession. Like all great programs, the six founding agencies and EPA saw a need in 2015 to re-visit the direction and results obtained by EUM practitioners with the outcome being a re-launched in 2017 of the EUM frameworks. The re-launch included guidance and inputs from three additional sponsors which were the Water Research Foundation, the Association of State Drinking Water Administrators, and the Association of Clean Water Administrators.

For those folks who want to take a deep dive into EUM, I highly recommend the reference Effective Utility Management –A Primer for Water and Wastewater Utilities. Although it takes a little hunting in the AWWA bookstore and website to find it, one can download a copy of this resource, free to RMSAWWA members, and start the journey toward EUM. There are 10 attributes for measuring a utility’s performance including the ones everybody thinks about, such as product quality and financial viability, and other attributes that maybe don’t get as much attention but are equally important measures, including stakeholder understanding and support and enterprise resiliency. Each year, utility leaders should realistically and honestly measure their performance in the 10 attributes and ask the question, where are we at and where can we realistically be in a year from now? The Covid-19 pandemic certainly provided an excellent opportunity for utilities to measure their enterprise resiliency, do it quickly, and in some cases perform some very quick and sharp course corrections to make sure the water kept running. Looking back, it was amazing how fast utilities developed continuity plans for operations from scratch between March and May 2020.

ROCKY MOUNTAIN VIEW

Getting the desired improvement in the 10 attributes of EUM takes a combination of leadership, strategic business planning, having tools in place to measure change and improvement, a commitment to focus on and manage continual improvement, and a program for knowledge management in all aspects of a utility’s operations. This last element is more than just periodic operations and maintenance manual updates for operations, although that’s certainly one important element. Taken together, these five elements for advancing EUM make for a tall order but one that’s crucial for utilities to succeed in their mission.

The March fly-in event to Washington, DC was an opportunity for our utility members to engage in stakeholder understanding and support with their respective Congressional delegations. Many thanks to our section members who took the time away from work to help foster a better understanding

Many

thanks to our section members who took the time away from work to help foster a better understanding by members of the Congress on key issues facing our industry and to AWWA who helped fund the fly-in event.

by members of the Congress on key issues facing our industry and to AWWA who helped fund the fly-in event.

The recent New Mexico Water Workshop Water Resource held in April 2024 focused on the EUM attribute water resource sustainability, with its overall theme focused on water scarcity. The technical program for this two-day workshop left no stone unturned by presenting approaches whose time has come to be considered in the face of dwindling, traditional freshwater supplies.

Back in 2019 and early 2020, and in response to America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018 (AWIA), all utilities serving

the equivalent population of 3,000 or more persons conducted all-hazard risk assessments of their enterprises (at least they were supposed to) and developed appropriate plans for dealing with various emergencies. Some of us even took the time to train our staff on these plans and maybe conduct a tabletop exercise to test staff response to a certain situation and learn how to improve the response. In accordance with AWIA, it’s time to dust off that five-year-old shelfware and provide the appropriate updates that will help improve enterprise resiliency. As a gentle reminder to get these updates done, the clock is now ticking.

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FROM THE RMWEA PRESIDENT

Elevating Water Professionals

Bill Peretti, RMWEA President

As we delve into this month’s issue focusing on effective utility management, it’s crucial to recognize the cornerstone of sustainable and efficient operations within our industry. One fundamental aspect of this principle is succession planning. It ensures continuity, resilience, and growth within our organizations.

Recently, the RMWEA Board convened in February for a pivotal one-day working session – our winter planning. With the participation of approximately 25 dedicated individuals, we embarked on a journey to refine our strategies and bolster our commitment to ‘Elevating Water

It

Professionals’, as encapsulated in our vision statement.

I extend my heartfelt gratitude to all those who contributed to facilitating this productive meeting. Together, we dedicated our efforts to advancing the industry’s collective vision. Throughout the day, several key themes emerged prominently, including operator outreach, succession planning, and the imperative of engaging young professionals within our ranks and the broader RMWEA community.

In particular, I wish to express my appreciation to Muzit Kiflai from Metro Water Recovery, whose expertise and guidance lent invaluable insights to our

strategic planning endeavors. Together, we underscored the pressing need for a more diverse and inclusive organizational landscape. Moreover, we emphasized the significance of integrating succession planning and fostering the active involvement of young professionals across the 25 RMWEA committees.

It is evident that our association thrives on the dedication and enthusiasm of its volunteers. As we move forward, we eagerly welcome new members into our fold, ensuring inclusivity and a steadfast commitment to our vision of ‘Elevating Water Professionals’. Thank you for your continued support and dedication.

is evident that our association thrives on the dedication and enthusiasm of its volunteers. As we move forward, we eagerly welcome new members into our fold, ensuring inclusivity and a steadfast commitment to our vision of ‘Elevating Water Professionals’. Thank you for your continued support and dedication.

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Slow Productivity – You Can Do Anything, But You Can’t Do Everything

By Jamie Safulko, PE

In my role as Deputy

Director –

Engineering at South Platte Renew (SPR), my team is dedicated to executing a diverse range of programmatic and project initiatives. These projects vary in scope, complexity, and subject matter, all of which are strategically aligned to fulfill our core vision of ‘Renewing Water for Colorado’s Future.’ With a never-ending supply of projects and competing priorities, as a utility leader, I have the unique challenge of ensuring that projects are executed efficiently, aligned with organizational goals, and carried out in a manner that prevents or avoids employee burnout. This challenge of never-ending priorities in projects is perfectly summed up in a Seinfeld quote from Newman where he describes his job at the post office “Because the mail never stops! It just keeps coming and coming and coming. There’s never a letup, it’s relentless. Every day it piles up more and more and more, and you gotta get it out, but the more you get it out, the more it keeps coming in!”

In the current leadership realm, there has been a considerable focus on addressing issues such as employee burnout, the subtle phenomenon of quiet quitting, and our overpowering ‘hustle’ culture. These detrimental patterns and organizational culture traits can exert a toxic influence on both employee retention and the overall quality of deliverables. As a millennial, I’ve internalized the idea that my self-worth is intricately linked to productivity – the more I produce, the more successful I am perceived to be. I have had to work hard in my career and my leadership style to break this cycle of being productive to feel valued. I recently discovered a work methodology

made famous by the author Cal Newport coined Slow Productivity, that has changed my outlook and strategy on resource allocation and work management.

The goal of slow productivity is to maintain an individual employee’s workload at a sustainable level, even reducing the volume of work that is assigned to that individual. By reducing the volume of work, the employee can focus on quality and creativity, and gain overall autonomy at work (people like to do good work, it brings them joy). At first glance this feels counter-intuitive, how will assigning less work make my organization more effective? By reducing workload, you inevitably reduce overhead and stress and allow the individual to focus on a small number of things at a time and execute tasks with quality results. Additionally, empowering individuals to wait until he or she is done with work before bringing on new projects or tasks has been shown to have a positive

impact on the volume of tasks completed long-term.

For Slow Productivity to be successful, as an organization you need to embody the concept of obsessing over quality. Obsessing over quality will, in turn, reduce the volume of work naturally, and create focus and clear expectations. With this concept of obsessing over quality, practice holding off on getting started on a project. Have the team or individual really sit with the scope of work or problem that is trying to be solved, not rushing into any solutions. This is also a concept in design thinking, not solving too quickly allows for the team to truly understand the scope, problem, and opportunities. Slow Productivity challenges us to not start the project until we can’t hold off anymore. Just be careful not to fall into analysis paralysis.

Never underestimate the power of a good workshop and brainstorming session. Bring in competing perspectives

and ideas and challenge the team to look at all the options. To have this type of dialogue at an organization you need to cultivate and maintain a culture of psychological safety. Be aware of the individuals who don’t promote this type of thinking and call out poor behavior or group thinking. The ‘yes man’ will not fall in line with obsession over quality and you will not get the desired results.

Implementing Slow Productivity comes with inherent challenges. In our line of work at a utility, completing tasks is essential, and unforeseen emergencies or projects are inevitable aspects of life. In the realm of utilities, where public perception, combating aging infrastructure, integrating technology, and ensuring regulatory compliance takes precedence, emphasizing the significance of project prioritization and resource allocation is essential. Incorporate a buffer in your workload management to accommodate unforeseen projects while

still achieving key objectives. As a leader, ensure absolute clarity in expectations; everyone on the team should recognize the high importance of critical projects. Regardless of other tasks, these pivotal projects must be completed with the utmost quality. By aligning workload management with a commitment to quality, employees can prioritize and dedicate their time to the right scopes of work.

Resource allocation and workload management are not one-size-fitsall concepts; as leaders in the utility sector, it’s crucial to comprehend the unique systems and drivers shaping our organizations. At SPR we will continue to strive to implement the aspects of Slow Productivity and obsess over quality. As a team we have not been too prideful to admit something is not working and refine the process, always striving for incremental but continual improvement.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Create focus and autonomy by assigning smaller volumes of work.

• Never start a project without completing the open ones first.

• Obsess over quality.

• Keep your resource allocation strategy simple, build in complexity in time.

• Don’t be afraid to admit something didn’t work and refine the system, strive for continual improvement.

Jamie Safulko is currently the Deputy DirectorEngineering at South Platte Renew, overseeing capital projects, asset management, electrical instrumentation and controls, and leading innovation and research efforts. Jamie serves on the RMWEA Executive Board as Co-Past President.

SOUTH PLATTE RENEW’S HPL PROGRAM:

Cultivating Leaders in the Water Industry Cultivating Leaders in the Water Industry

By KACIE ALLARD, Deputy Director - Business Solutions, South Platte Renew

PP

rioritizing a resilient workforce has become a key initiative for the water industry, as organizations continue to confront challenges regarding recruitment, retention, and succession planning. Gallup’s research emphasizes the crucial role of strategic investments in employee development to establish a sustainable and engaged workforce. Organizations dedicated to this approach report an impressive 11% increase in profitability and are twice as likely to retain their employees. However, a concerning trend emerges, with only four in 10 employees expressing strong agreement that they have sufficient opportunities at work for learning and personal growth.

At South Platte Renew (SPR), the employee experience takes precedence as a strategic initiative, which led to the inception of The High-Performance Leadership Program for Water Professionals (HPL). HPL is a transformative program that surpasses the boundaries of traditional leadership development. In the ever-evolving landscape of professional growth and organizational excellence, the HPL Program stands as an example of innovation and empowerment. Launched in 2021, this nine-month mini-MBA program has redefined how SPR develops leaders and cultivates a culture of excellence.

“These infusions of diverse perspectives enrich the program’s curriculum, providing participants with a broader outlook on leadership. By breaking away from the confines of the water industry alone, HPL encourages innovative thinking and problem-solving.”

The HPL Program, a purposefully designed collaboration between SPR and the University of Denver (DU) Daniels College of Business, aims to drive personal and organizational growth while instilling a high-performance culture. With clear objectives in leadership development, cultural transformation, and industry impact, the program prepares the next generation of water professionals to lead effectively and set new standards in the industry.

What sets HPL apart from other leadership programs is its team of exceptional facilitators. This program forms a unique partnership, blending water industry expertise, with the business acumen of professors from the DU Daniels College of Business as well as incorporating the perspectives of industry experts representing healthcare, IT, and Oil and Gas.

These infusions of diverse perspectives enrich the program’s curriculum, providing participants with a broader outlook on leadership. By breaking away from the confines of the water industry alone, HPL encourages innovative thinking and problem-solving.

Having successfully graduated two cohorts and currently conducting its third, the HPL Program includes both existing and emerging leaders. With no educational prerequisites, the program

“By exposing participants to a rich tapestry of ideas and concepts, the program equips them with a well-rounded understanding of leadership.”

interpersonal relationships – a cornerstone of leadership excellence.

empowers frontline supervisors and rising stars to grasp business concepts from Daniels College, creating a consistent leadership vernacular across SPR. This approach ensures a seamless leadership transition within the organization. At its core, HPL cultivates a high-performance culture, beginning with the Insights Discovery Assessment. This self-awareness tool sets the stage for understanding individual and teammate preferences, forming the foundation for effective

Throughout the nine-month journey, participants delve into diverse topics to establish a foundational understanding of crucial themes, subjects, and terminology essential for effective leaders. Topics include soft skills like emotional intelligence and team building to technical skills like finance and strategic thinking. Required readings, facilitated conversations, experiential activities, and panel discussions provide a multifaceted approach to learning. By exposing participants to a rich tapestry of ideas and concepts, the program equips them with a well-rounded understanding of leadership.

Each cohort undertakes Action Learning Projects (ALPs) aimed at addressing genuine organizational challenges. Using design thinking principles, participants identify root causes and collaboratively develop tangible, practical solutions. From these projects have come a wide array of ideas, efficiencies, and organizational enhancements, including improvements to the onboarding process and the execution of Stay Interviews. These projects yield substantial returns on investment, far exceeding the program’s cost.

As the program concludes, participants create individual leadership development plans and articulate personal commitments, culminating in a professional presentation. This fosters a culture of accountability and shared growth, ensuring that the knowledge gained throughout the program translates into actionable plans for professional development.

The South Platte Renew HighPerformance Leadership Program is more than just an educational initiative; it’s a transformative journey that empowers individuals, cultivates organizational excellence, and develops leaders poised to effect meaningful change in the water industry. Beyond knowledge and skills, the program inspires a high-performance culture that resonates throughout SPR, fostering growth and success within the organization and influencing the broader water industry. The impact of the HPL program extends far beyond SPR, amplifying participants’ influence in the industry for years to come.

Kacie Allard is the Deputy Director – Business Solutions for South Platte Renew, Colorado’s third-largest wastewater treatment plant. She has over 15 years of experience in municipal government, 10 of which have been in the water sector. Kacie is an expert communicator, change leader, novice gardener, and devoted wife and mother. She landed in the water sector by happenstance but has become passionate about serving the community and its stakeholders since then. Her enthusiasm for collaboration and team empowerment has allowed her to grow and encourage others in their personal and professional development. Kacie serves on the RMWEA Executive Board as Secretary.

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Sustainable Landscape Templates:

By Lindsay Nerad, Water E ciency Specialist, Northern Water

The Marshall Fire swept across southern Boulder County, Colorado in December 2021 devastating the area. In the years since residents have started to rebuild. To assist in the rebuilding process, the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District (Northern Water) contracted with Norris Design to create six implementation-ready landscape templates. The creation of the landscape templates was driven by a community advisory committee. Through their guidance, Northern Water and Norris Design were able to release the landscape templates and resource package in late 2023.

The sustainable landscape templates incorporate plant material that is not only low water but is beneficial to native pollinators and birds. The templates call

Project Overview

for significantly less turf than a standard new build, resulting in 50% or greater water savings. The templates include full landscape plans, irrigation plans, a plant guide with flammability ratings, watersaving estimates, construction details, and cost opinions.

Northern Water sees the sustainable landscape templates as a new paradigm for landscapes by taking into consideration climate resilience and water quality. By reducing or eliminating Kentucky bluegrass, the templates not only achieve water savings but also reduce our dependence on fertilizers in the landscape, in turn improving local water quality. We could also see stormwater reductions if templates were adopted widely. Dense plant coverage, native grass lawns, and dry creek beds all help to mitigate stormwater run-off.

Rebuilding in the Aftermath

On a morning in late December 2021, a fire erupted and moved fast with intense winds through Boulder County and suburban neighborhoods in the City of Louisville and Town of Superior. When the fire and winds calmed, 1,084 structures were destroyed.

As the aftermath settled, a community advocate who lost her home in the fire approached staff at Northern Water to inquire about landscape templates to help in the rebuilding process. In her research, she discovered a project from Sonoma and Marin Counties in California that provided landscape templates to the communities affected by the North Bay Fires of 2017. Northern Water’s Water Efficiency Department began exploring the opportunity and developed a community advisory committee.

In early 2023, Northern Water hosted an informational meeting to garner insights from community stakeholders, which included employees from Louisville, Superior, the City of Boulder, and Boulder County. The expertise of the group included planning, sustainability, and fire mitigation experts, as well as a nonprofit organization focused on watershed issues and three community members who had lost their homes.

The meeting revealed several key takeaways, including a high interest in following fire-wise principles, supporting pollinators and stormwater quality, managing significant grade variation and slopes, and cost-effective options. Additional topics discussed included a landscape maintenance manual, which is now in development, and a workshop to train contractors and others involved in rebuilding.

Beginning the Process

Drawing from the Sonoma-Marin landscape templates and advisory committee feedback, Northern Water submitted a request for proposals to develop a package of sustainable landscape templates and later contracted with Norris Design.

To keep water conservation and sustainability at the forefront, Northern Water requested the designs include no more than 30% of the front yard be designated as turf. Northern Water also asked that turf alternatives, such as Tahoma 31, Dog Tuff ™, and native grass (buffalo, blue grama blend), be included as options. In addition, the statement of work requested planting areas consisting of low-water native and climate-adapted plant material. Firewise principles were also to be followed by choosing fire-smart plant and landscape materials and calling

attention to the importance of home ignition zones when placing plants and trees in the landscape. For instance, placing trees a minimum of 10 feet at maturity from a structure and other trees; reducing ladder fuels, such as woody shrubs, under trees and maintaining a five-foot buffer of no plant material around the home; and using fine rock mulch rather than wood to help protect a home from future fire risks. The plant list also includes individual plant flammability ratings taken from Idaho Firewise guidelines.

Engagement with the advisory committee continued throughout the design process, which included meetings to gain insight and knowledge into the scope, as well as at 30% and 90% design intervals.

Landscape Templates Released

The final landscape templates were presented at a community meeting in

3D image of the “Modern Adaptive” corner lot template. Image by Norris Design.

December at the Louisville Recreation and Senior Center. Attendance exceeded expectations with standing room only and a lot of interest surrounding the new templates.

In the development of the templates, lot selection was based on actual lot conditions in the areas burned by fire. Since much of the rebuilding was taking place in unincorporated Boulder County, it was suggested that at least one of the templates reflect a large lot. Of the five remaining lots, two are pie-shaped cul-de-sac lots, one of which is modeled from a walk-out basement with significant grade changes sloping towards the back, and the other with significant grade changes sloping towards the front. One small rectangle lot was modeled from the Sagamore neighborhood of Louisville, one from a standard rectangle lot, and one from a corner lot. The intent was to capture as many unique landscape conditions as possible. Two of the plans have no front yard turf and two incorporate a dry creek bed to move and better utilize natural precipitation on the landscape.

Northern Water and Norris Design teams worked methodically to ensure plants called out in the templates were largely native to Colorado or the region to create resilient and ecologically diverse landscapes. Northern Water hopes through wide adoption of the sustainable landscape templates we can dramatically conserve water use in our landscapes, provide food and habitat to pollinators and birds as well as improve water quality by reducing fertilizers and run-off. Moving forward, Northern Water will continue to develop materials around the templates and promote them as a new paradigm for residential landscapes.

Reflections

The advisory committee was instrumental in guiding the project. Without experts in the fields of horticulture, fire mitigation practices, and homeowners to voice realistic expectations, the templates would not have been nearly as robust.

The sustainable landscape templates can be found on Northern Water’s website at northernwater.org/sustainablelandscapetemplates. While the templates were designed for those impacted by the Marshall Fire, Northern Water hopes that the templates are adopted by

homeowners’ associations, developers, and individual homeowners. The templates include a wide variety of resources that Northern Water hopes will service those undergoing any scale of sustainable landscape renovations.

Lindsay Nerad is a Water Efficiency Specialist at Northern Water. Lindsay started at Northern Water in October 2022 and soon after took on the role of project coordinator for the sustainable landscape templates project. She, along with other team members, worked closely with stakeholders and Norris Design to ensure the templates fully met the needs of those rebuilding from the Marshall Fire. Her background is in landscape design and conservation leadership. She graduated from Colorado State University’s Conservation Leadership Through Learning master’s program in 2015. Before receiving her master’s, she spent several years working in the landscape industry. After completing her master’s, Lindsay wanted to create more sustainable and diverse landscapes and decided to pursue a Landscape Design Certification. After four years working as a landscape designer, Lindsay took on new challenges with Northern Water where she now works in its demonstration garden and with education and outreach projects. Lindsay can be reached by email at lnerad@northernwater.org or by calling 970-292-2566.

Our concern for the environment is more than just talk

This publication is printed on Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®) certified paper with vegetable oil-based inks. Please do your part for the environment by reusing and recycling.

Promoting Professional Development Within the Lab Practices Committee

By Seirra Potter, Analytical Chemist, South Platte Renew

Employee and leadership development are one of the many attributes of effective utility management. While all attributes are important to the vitality and success of a utility, I strongly believe that this one might be the most important as I can personally attest to it.

While attending my first Rocky Mountain Water Conference in 2022, I noticed a Lab Practices Committee (LPC) meeting listed on the program. I decided to take a break from all of the technical sessions, and instead, join in on the meeting. Little did I know that I made a choice that would ultimately impact my career in more ways than I ever thought possible. I immediately loved the connection I felt with fellow lab people and wanted to get more involved. Shortly after, I offered to take on the role of Co-Chair of LPC. I truly feel like my involvement and network have just followed a snowball-like effect since then. LPC has offered me many opportunities for career, personal, and leadership development.

From budgeting to strategic planning to facilitating meetings, I have learned how to do so many things that I can take back and apply within my current position. These are lifelong skills that have essentially been free leadership training before actually stepping into a leadership role. Involvement with LPC has allowed me to bridge that gap and constantly fine-tune those skills over time so that I will be well-equipped when the time comes to take on a leadership role.

The best part about LPC is that it is beneficial for members at any stage in their career – not just those at the beginning of their careers like me. Further developing employees in their careers regardless of where they are at and providing them with all kinds of leadership skills can be done in a variety of different ways. Specifically within the LPC, the bi-annual socials, tours, seminars, trainings, conferences, and the intertwined relationship with the Rocky Mountain Water Quality Analysts Association (RMWQAA)

have provided unbeatable opportunities for members to grow and develop. Networking, leadership, and educational opportunities are three of the key players within LPC that allow for growth and development.

NETWORKING OPPORTUNITIES

LPC always strives to provide members with ample networking opportunities as it is such a crucial part of professional development. By attending events and getting to know other members, those involved with LPC have the opportunity to grow and exponentially expand their network. Growing that network can then provide LPC members with resources, references, mentors, job opportunities, and even lifelong friendships.

LEADERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

Active involvement within LPC fosters leadership skills. Some of these skills include presenting at seminars/conferences, planning out an agenda, leading meetings, MC’ing events, providing input on budgets, and time management. The more a member wants to invest, the more they will get out of it in the long run.

EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES

A big focus of LPC (in collaboration with RMWQAA) is providing members with plenty of educational opportunities. LPC pushes for many free or low-cost in-house expertise trainings and seminars to share knowledge, while also holding larger trainings and seminars that utilize more outside expertise/knowledge. Whether it’s a training session with 50 attendees, participating in a roundtable discussion, or just bouncing ideas off of one another during a meeting, the educational opportunities are endless.

In addition to sharing my story of involvement with LPC, I wanted to share a few quotes from others on how LPC has impacted their professional development:

The best part about LPC is that it is beneficial for members at any stage in their career – not just those at the beginning of their careers like me. Further developing employees in their careers regardless of where they are at and providing them with all kinds of leadership skills can be done in a variety of different ways.

“I joined LPC many years ago as a way to connect with others in the water community. I didn’t have much knowledge to contribute at that point in my career, but I had a little time to give, and the time that I was able to give was returned to me in connection, learning, and inspiration. I have enjoyed working with the many talented and knowledgeable people in LPC who are contributing to and improving the regional water community. LPC has also been a great way for me to learn, connect, and gain confidence in my career. LPC is a great way for anyone in the business to show themselves, and the organizations they work for, as leaders contributing positively to the community that we are all a part of.”

– Rich MacAlpine, Laboratory Supervisor, Metro Water Recovery

“Being a member of RMWEA’s Lab Practices Committee for 10 years has been a great benefit to me professionally and personally. Our LPC community is an amazing resource, available anytime with answers, accolades, connections, and support. We not only help each other out, but we strive to be an educational resource for other entities as well, whether it’s for a processing lab at a small treatment plant, or a large commercial lab serving thousands of clients. The LPC strives to assist, educate, and grow future leaders…and also enjoy some camaraderie during tours and networking events.”

– Evelyn Rhodes, Water Quality Administrator, City of Arvada

“The LPC of RMWEA has played an important role throughout my career in several ways. Early in my career, it helped me get to know other local laboratory professionals and start feeling like I had a lab network. Serving as Chair of the LPC provided me with immeasurable opportunities and was a fantastic experience. And in my current role, I still turn to the LPC for training and conferences, tours, networking, social events, general lab advice, and everything in between. I always recommend the supportive, competent, and collaborative LPC to anyone in the lab industry hoping to stay connected and have fun.”

– Melissa Mimna, Lab Manager, City of Boulder

Between all the testimonials shared within this article, it is clear that the LPC is such an advantageous group to be a part of. Jumpstart or boost your professional development by getting involved today!

Reach out to Seirra Potter at spotter@englewoodco.gov or Rich MacAlpine at rmacalpine@metrowaterrecovery.com for more information.

Seirra Potter is an Analytical Chemist at South Platte Renew. She received her B.S. in chemistry from Central Washington University and master of business administration from Loyola University in Chicago. She is currently a Co-Chair of the Lab Practices Committee through RMWEA.

Celebrating Diversity and Resilience in the Rocky Mountain Section: AAPI Heritage Month, Juneteenth,

and LGBT Pride Month

By Alex Sofranko, Ayush Shahi, and Victor Sam

The months of May and June are packed with events that spotlight the diverse cultures of Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming. These events aren’t just about bringing people together; they’re an opportunity to explore and celebrate our differences.

May marks the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, a time to honor the rich cultural tapestry, traditions, and contributions of AAPI communities. Throughout the month, various events and activities showcase the diverse heritage, languages, and experiences of Asian and Pacific Islander individuals. From multicultural arts festivals to informative sessions, AAPI Heritage Month fosters understanding and appreciation.

Our goal is to o er a diverse range of opportunities for everyone to nd an event that resonates with them.

Juneteenth, observed on June 19, commemorates the emancipation of enslaved African Americans in the United States. A day of reflection and celebration, Juneteenth is marked by parades, music, and community gatherings. It serves as a powerful reminder of the resilience of the African American community and the ongoing journey toward equality and justice.

June is also recognized as LGBT Pride Month, a time to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community’s history, achievements, and ongoing fight for equal rights. Pride Month is marked by colorful parades, events, and initiatives that promote inclusivity and acceptance. It’s a time for individuals to express their authentic selves, fostering a sense of unity and understanding across diverse sexual orientations and gender identities.

In our ongoing efforts to create a more inclusive and welcoming atmosphere within the Rocky Mountain Water Section, we invite you to peruse the following list of events. Our goal is to offer a diverse range of opportunities for everyone to find an event that resonates with them.

DENVER:

• Second Annual Asian American and Pacific Islander Festival (May 6-7, Denver Zoo): Join the Denver Zoo’s multicultural event featuring dance, music, art, and workshops celebrating the diverse heritage of Asian and Pacific cultures.

• Juneteenth Music Festival (June 15-16, Five Points Neighborhood): Commemorate Juneteenth with a parade, music, and outdoor vendors, honoring the historical journey towards freedom.

• Denver PrideFest 2024 (June 22-23, Civic Center Park): Experience the vibrant celebration of LGBTQ+ culture at Civic Center Park with dance, music, and a lively atmosphere.

• 50th Annual Denver Cherry Blossom Festival (June 22-23, Sakura Square): Immerse yourself in Japanese culture at Sakura Square with traditional performances and cherry blossom festivities.

• Colorado Dragon Boat Festival (July 27-28, Sloans Lake Park): Attend a two-day dragon boat racing spectacle at Sloans Lake Park, complete with an Asian Marketplace and food stalls.

SOUTHERN COLORADO:

• Southern Colorado Juneteenth Festival (June 15-17, America the Beautiful Park): Enjoy a three-day celebration at America the Beautiful Park in Colorado Springs, featuring national artists, step shows, a car show, a fashion show, and activities for all ages.

NORTHERN COLORADO:

• Fort Collins Juneteenth (June 19): Engage in community celebrations in Fort Collins, highlighting the significance of Juneteenth in Colorado.

NEW MEXICO:

• 27th Annual Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Festival (May 4, 2024, National Museum of Nuclear Science and History): Enjoy the cultural heritage and diversity of the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities including traditional dance performances, Chinese martial arts, Japanese Taiko drumming and much more.

• Albuquerque PrideFest (June 2-9, Balloon Park): Join Albuquerque in a week-long PrideFest featuring diverse events and culminating in the PrideFest at Balloon Park.

WYOMING:

• Laramie PrideFest (June 7-15): Experience a week-long festival celebrating diversity in Laramie with a variety of events and celebrations.

If you are interested in helping make the Rocky Mountain Water Section more inclusive and welcoming, consider joining the DEI Committee. For more information on how you can play a role in the committee, please contact Victor Sam at victor.sam@stantec.com, or Alex Sofranko asofranko@pwsd.org.

Alex Sofranko (he/him) is a water professional passionate about environmental conservation and the empowerment of the LGBTQ+ community. He is a Project Engineer at Parker Water & Sanitation District and has a bachelor’s degree from Ohio State University and a master’s degree from the University of Colorado Boulder. He is a member of the DEI Committee and the Rocky Mountain Water Young Professionals group.

Ayush Shahi (he/him) is an associate water/wastewater engineer at WSP. He is from Nepal and got his bachelor’s degree from Tribhuvan University. He has master’s degrees in civil and environmental engineering from the University of New Mexico and global engineering from the University of Colorado Boulder. He is part of the inaugural member of AWWA’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Standards Committee and the Rocky Mountain Water DEI Committee.

Victor Sam, P.E., is a senior environmental engineer at Stantec. He has over 10 years of experience in the water and wastewater industry and is passionate about helping others reach their potential no matter their background or skill set. He is the Chair of the RMSAWWA DEI Sub-Committee.

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Scenario Game Play: A Winning Approach For Integrated Water and Electric Utility Planning

By Steven A. Conrad

Water and energy systems are complexly intertwined but too often treated as separate within siloed utility organizations. Events designed to cross these silos and engage experts in scenario gameplay could increase efficiencies and open the door to new and better systems.

The interconnected nature of water and energy resources in cities necessitates the need for strategic planning across water and energy sectors. Water and power service delivery are impacted by rising demand, rising costs, climate impacts, and increasing constraints on the resource base. Many strategies to meet future water supply needs and more stringent water treatment standards require more energy, and many new energy supplies require more water.

The water and energy sectors can respond together to address these issues. Improvements in water demand management and water resource recovery, for example, can support a renewable energy grid while water reuse in the energy sector can improve water security.

The National Western Center District Energy System illustrates what cities could accomplish and serves as a case and point for the kind of innovation that can happen when engineers apply systems thinking. Integrated planning across the water and energy sectors provides opportunities to enable resilient and efficient solutions.

Integrated water and electric utility planning, as described by the Water Research Foundation (referenced below), involves water and energy utilities

Team 4 at the Denver W&E Tournament deliberating planning options. Photo Credit: Steven Conrad

Tournament referees (Left: Steven Kenway and Steve Conrad) conferring with Team 3 at the Denver W&E Tournament. Photo Credit: Steven Conrad

collaborating at each stage of the planning process, from goal setting to monitoring implemented strategies. Water and energy utilities would jointly develop and implement plans to maintain and/or improve the delivery of water and power services.

And yet, while many similarities exist between water and energy utilities –efficiency goals, fixed supplies, climate

vulnerabilities – collaborative planning is rare. Most efforts remain uncoordinated and siloed, focused on isolated issues rather than embracing the systemic interplay between water and energy resources.

The question arises: How can utilities break through silos to work together to develop innovative solutions? A novel approach is through simulation gameplay. First introduced as the Water and Electric

Utility Integrated Planning Tournament (W&E Tournament), a tournament encourages stakeholders to openly discuss opportunities for future plans, uncover and prioritize joint initiatives, and overcome barriers by establishing cross-sector networks and communication channels. Moreover, outcomes are achieved through a fun and engaging way, that is, in a workshop with a winner

Participants realizing their final integrated design in legos at the 2023 UDC.

The world’s first W&E Tournament in Denver, Colorado, was a proving ground using scenario gameplay to break down silos. A paper I published in 2015 demonstrated how we can better breakdown utility silos through game playing scenarios (referenced below). Over two days, 32 participants from the United States, Canada, and Australia played to develop winning integrated strategies to manage a fictional city’s water and energy resources. The gameplay involved two rounds of scenarios — each round requiring teams to devise plans responding to challenges like declining water supplies or new emissions regulations. Teams could select from a suite of planning options or innovate their own.

Teams crafted strategies addressing both immediate and long-term sustainability. Solutions ranged from leak repair programs and alternative water sources to implementing watering restrictions and full-cost water pricing. The inclusion of district energy sources and real-time metering collaborations showcased the forward-thinking that integrated planning encourages. Each round concluded with teams defending their plans before judges and peers, ensuring strategies were not only innovative but also pragmatic and comprehensive. The tournament highlighted the ability of such collaborative gameplay to yield realistic and prioritized plans for water and energy integration as well as build crucial peer networks.

Since the original Denver tournament scenario game play has been advanced to feature student-industry water energy urban design challenges at The University of Queensland, Simon Fraser University, and Colorado State University (in 2022 and 2023). This collaborative urban design challenge offers students an opportunity to work with industry engineers and urban planner/designers to learn hands-on about the intersection of water-energy city planning. Additionally, teams of planners, architects, engineers, and others, create new urban developments that are more livable, sustainable, resilient and resource efficient and provides a model for industry collaborations.

Wider use of the integrated game play creates opportunity for focusing infrastructure design and investment toward solutions that simultaneously address the emerging challenges of uncertain water futures, rising energy costs, developing alternative water and energy supplies, and the need to simultaneously adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change.

Utilities interested in scenario gameplay to facilitate integrated utility planning can reach out to Dr. Conrad at Colorado State University or the Water Research Foundation for resources and support for hosting a local W&E Tournaments.

More information about the W&E Tournament, including a tournament summary report, is available at stevenconrad.ca/weuip-tournament/. Additional information about Water

Research Foundation Project 4469 – Water and Electric Utility Integrated Planning is available at waterrf.org/research/projects/ water-and-electric-utility-integrated-planning.

Dr. Steven Conrad, Systems Engineering, Colorado State University: steve. conrad@colostate.edu

Dr. Steve Conrad has conducted research and consulted with the water and energy industry for over 25 years on the feedbacks between humanenvironmental systems through the coupling of social and engineering sciences to inform decision making and visualization, the quantification and modelling of system function, system optimization and resilience, and policy and planning as applied to energy, water and food systems, sustainable community design, and climate change adaptation.

REFERENCES

• Conrad, S.A., 2015. Water and Electric Utility Integrated Planning: Joint Utility Planning Tournament. Simon Fraser University, Water Research Foundation, Burnaby, BC.

• Conrad, S.A., Kenway, S.J., Jawad, M., 2017. Water and Electric Utility Integrated Planning (No. 4469). Water Research Foundation, Denver, CO.

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The Legacy of PWO Seminars: Decades of Education and Networking For Wastewater Professionals

By Becca Chapa and Tim Drescher, Co-Chairs, RMWEA PWO Committee

The Professional Wastewater Operator Seminars, or PWO Seminars for short, have been a staple in the wastewater industry for decades. How, you might ask, did the PWO Seminars come to be and where did they get their start?

The Professional Wastewater Operators Division (PWOD) was originally formed in 1984 by the Water Environment Federation (then known as the Water Pollution Control Federation, and before that the Federation of Sewage Works Association). By mid-1985

(way before Nirvana), RMWEA, (then known as Rocky Mountain Water Pollution Control) had sufficient members to elect a PWOD representative.

The trip we took down memory lane couldn’t confirm the first RMWEA elected PWOD Zone Representative, but we heard rumblings that it may have been Bob Jarski, followed by Terry Anderson, Wayne Ramey, Michael McCrary, Tony Woodrum, then Greg Farmer. The March 1987 issue from Rumbles Magazine (today known as Rocky Mountain Water Magazine, the magazine you’re reading!) stated that Tom Doyle was appointed by the RMWPC President to be the interim PWOD Zone Representative, though if he was voluntold to do so may be lost to history. The PWOD ceased to exist shortly after WEF turned the Operators Forum Magazine into the Water Environment & Technology Magazine.

While the exact history of the PWO Seminars is a bit fuzzy, we do have some tidbits to share with you. According to one source, the first seminar they recall attending was in late 1987 at a hotel on the west side of Fort Morgan. They recall the City of Brighton’s WWTP Superintendent at the time, Ed Burke, presented his new facility which incorporated trickling filters and a racetrack. It must have been a banner presentation to leave a lasting mark on fading memories.

Throughout the years, the PWO Seminars have been held in various locations, including Estes Park, Greeley, Vail, New Mexico, and more. Some of these seminars are long-standing with one source recalling that the Estes Park seminar was run by Ray

first mention of PWOs was in the March 1987 issue of Rumbles Magazine.

Kemp and Debbie Taylor for over a decade, with happy hours and drink tickets as a fan favorite – some things never change! Additionally, the first Vail PWO Seminar was held in 1995 and hosted by Jim Edwards. This year will mark the 29th Annual Anniversary of the Vail PWO Seminar.

In 2009-2010 RMWEA President, Kevin Hill, CWP mandated that at least one PWO Seminar be offered free of charge to members. The first free seminar was sponsored by South Platte Renew in 2010 with Steve Walker as the emcee. Since it was no charge, it drew participants from all over the state, with some Southern Colorado and western slope participation since those municipalities only paid for travel. This tradition is still honored today and the Greeley PWO Seminar will be offered as the free option available to all RMWEA members in 2024. The following year, it moved to Red and Jerry’s in Sheridan and was cleverly called the Red and Jerry’s PWO Seminar until the venue closed in 2016. That’s when it became the Englewood PWO Seminar, which is still going strong today. While the exact start dates and historical details may be hard to come by, the legacy of the PWO Seminars lives on. They continue to provide valuable education and networking opportunities for wastewater professionals throughout the Rocky Mountain region. When it comes to learning about innovative solutions, data-driven process changes, routine maintenance that improves operation, or

even laboratory microorganism bug hunts, the PWO Seminars are your one-stop shop for local ongoings in our industry.

With the addition of the Grand Junction PWO Seminar in 2023, there are now officially seven PWO Seminars hosted every year where operators can not only earn training unit (TU) credits to maintain licensure but learn about the ongoings in their local communities.

The PWO Seminars are a great way to engage in learning, share ideas, and network with your fellow industry colleagues. The seminar coordinators add their personal touches to their events and encourage good food, good vibes, and good information.

The RMWEA PWO Committee is always in need of volunteers. Whether it involves seminar coordination help, submitting

presentations or presentation ideas to be considered for the various seminars, or even hosting your own seminar, we welcome your input and participation. One glaring gap in our coverage of events could be the hosting of a new seminar in Wyoming. If volunteering time is not feasible, sponsoring a happy hour event is always a welcome option!

Becca Chapa and Tim Drescher are the RMWEA PWO Committee Co-Chairs and can be reached at chapaBR@bv.com and tdrescher@erwsd.org

2024 PWO Seminar Locations for RMWEA.

Estes Park Vail Grand Junction Englewood Colorado Springs Greeley New Mexico

2024 RMWEA Innovation Seminar

RMWEA’s Innovative Water Technology (IWT) Committee hosted its annual innovation seminar on February 13, 2024, at the CSU Spur Campus in Denver. Water industry leaders and innovators covered selected state-of-the-art technologies driving toward a circular economy. The 80+ professionals that attended represented utilities, academia, technology providers, and consultants.

The seminar included several presentations, a panel discussion, networking, and a tour of the National Western Center’s Heat Recovery System. Christopher Marks, IWT Committee Chair, delivered welcoming remarks to kick off the morning session which included a keynote speech, panel discussion, and three presentations.

Art Umble, Senior Vice President at Stantec and Director of their Water Institute for Applied Science, Technology, and Policy set the stage for the seminar discussing the core principles behind transitioning from a linear to circular economy, barriers, and current market demands and opportunities including cellulosic transformation to bioenergy. He emphasized utilities reusing generated products at their own facilities when no other apparent market exists as a unique advantage.

The panel discussion focused on regulatory drivers to incentivize, adopt, and permit resource recovery opportunities for new markets in a circular economy. The panelists included Tyson Ingels, David Kurz, and Chelsea Cotton from CDPHE, Conner Murray (Hazen), and Art Umble (Stantec). A challenge perceived by the audience was the singular focus on regulations on effluent water quality driven by the Clean Water Act that risks ignoring other environmental sustainability aspects. However, there are successful

examples of flexible and innovationpromoting regulations: Colorado recently developed the Direct Potable Reuse (DPR) rule providing flexibility for the design and innovation of treatment trains rather than settling unnecessarily prescriptive requirements. Colorado regulations encourage demonstration facilities as a way to gain public support and regulatory design buy-in for innovative technologies.

Chuck Mason, CEO of Bloom Sustainable Materials, summarized Bloom’s development of incorporating algal-based biopolymers as an additive to petroleumbased foam and rubber materials, such as running shoes. Algae are harvested from impaired surface water or wastewater treatment systems, cleaning water while brands reduce the carbon footprint of their products.

The 2023 IWT Shark Tank Winners from the City of Fort Collins – Basil Hamdan, Stormwater Quality Engineer, and Gregg Stonecipher, Director of Plant Operations, presented on their project ‘Water Treatment Residuals for Phosphorus Removal in Stormwater’. This project reuses water treatment residuals to remove solids and total phosphorus from stormwater in bioretention cells.

Mango Materials, presented by Michael Matthews, Commercial Plant Project Manager, provided updates on their production of biopolymers from biogas methane biogas for consumer products. The technology has successfully been piloted at Silicon Valley Clean Water and the Easterly Wastewater Treatment Plan in California. Mango Materials is currently scaling up operations.

Over lunch, attendees had the opportunity to tour the largest sewer-heat recovery system in North America, located at the National Western Center. The tour was given by Leslie Fangman in association with CenTrio Energy and organized by Metro Water Recovery. Sewer heat from Metro’s Delgany interceptor is recovered and beneficially used for the National Western Center’s heating needs, thereby also reducing the thermal pollution from water users.

The first presenter in the afternoon was Jeff Prevatt who is the Deputy Director at Pima County Regional Wastewater Reclamation Department. Jeff presented Pima’s efforts for carbon dioxide (CO2) recovery and off-site reuse opportunities, including beverage carbonation, aviation fuel generation, and concrete CO2 sequestration. CO2 use at the wastewater facility includes algal-based nutrient removal and enhanced chlorination through pH suppression. Studies conducted by Pima have shown that CO2 injection into centrate reduces struvite formation.

Mark Hernandez, professor of Civil Engineering at CU Boulder, presented his group’s success in upcycling steel slag fines for nutrient recovery and metalloid control in anaerobic digesters and biogas. At his pilot at the Boulder Water Resource Recovery Facility biogas contaminants were removed by adsorption to the steel slag media to meet Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) requirements for pipeline injection.

Leon Downing, Global Practice and Technology Leader for Nutrient Removal and Recovery at Black and Veatch presented on the economics of phosphorus recovery technologies and included several case studies of installations in the U.S. for struvite recovery. He talked about the next generation of recovery technologies such as CalPrex and algae production as a phosphorus sink. Barriers to widespread implementation include complicated chemistry and still a low market demand for struvite, although the costs of struvite production are competitive with commercial fertilizers.

After a networking break, Alexander Schwiebert, a Ph.D. candidate from the Colorado School of Mines, showed that pilot nitrogen recovery via membrane distillation at South Platte Renew from the center is possible to reach high ammonium sulfate concentrations in the distillate

The final presentation from Tayler Elwell, Ph.D. candidate at the Colorado School of Mines, focused on cloth media filtration (CMF) for energy production through carbon diversion. Tayler provided an overview and results from her pilot scale studies. CMF removes 25% more Total Suspended Solids (TSS) and 15% more Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) than conventional primary treatment and thus reduces mainstream aeration requirements by 10-20%. Experimental anaerobic digester data suggest that more methane is produced with primary solids from CMF compared with traditional primary treatment.

The annual innovation seminar sparked many conversations about how water industry professionals can help drive a circular economy in the Rocky Mountain region. If you like to stay informed about future events organized by the IWT Committee, please contact Christopher Marks at marksc@bouldercolorado.gov.

The Case of the Missing HOBOs

By Tara Wilson, Water Quality Supervisor, City of Westminster Wastewater Quality Lab, and Bob Kutchen, Plant Maintenance Supervisor, Westminster Wastewater Facility

The City of Westminster’s Big Dry Creek (BDC) Wastewater Treatment Facility and Water Quality Laboratory have had a successful project that started years ago but was completed in December of 2023. This project included lab and maintenance staff at the plant, along with the SCADA team, and Andy Cross at the drinking water lab.

When the wastewater facility received a new permit in 2020 there was a requirement to monitor temperature in the creek upstream of the plant’s discharge. Sounds easy enough, right? Unfortunately, this was not the case. Since it was a surprise to have this requirement on the permit, BDC did not have any infrastructure in place to start monitoring by the time the permit went into effect. Lab staff were tasked with finding a quick fix to monitoring temperature in the creek until a permanent solution with online monitoring (SCADA system) could be thoughtfully implemented. Staff creatively devised a solution by using a temperature HOBO (made by Onset) attached to a 25 lb. dumbbell; actually, two dumbbells, to have a backup just in case, which were anchored to the bridge in different locations with a thick gauge wire.

To download the data from the HOBOs, the sensors had to be physically removed from the water to transmit. As a result, lab staff were going out in the creek every other week to retrieve the dumbbells and download the data. This method worked well for

about two and a half years. Staff tried to imagine and mitigate any potential issues with this setup but did not anticipate the one-two punch of beavers building dams nearby, and flooding from heavy rains. In the summer of 2022, after a lot of unusual heavy rains, lab staff went to go retrieve the HOBOs only to discover that they were missing. It turns out that a heavy rainstorm had flooded the area and washed out part of a beaver dam, along with a lot of other wood and debris that happened to be in the creek. This caught the anchor line and stripped off both weights. Then, silt in the creek buried the dumbbells. This resulted in lab staff spending two days under a low bridge digging in the water and silt to try to locate the dumbbells. Eventually, both dumbbells were recovered, and the data was able to be downloaded.

However, the staff knew they could produce a better solution and fix the issue of having washed-out trees interfering with the equipment. They contacted a beaver relocating company to come and monitor for beaver activity. The company advised that if BDC staff just tear down the dams, the beaver will rebuild within a few days. As it turns out, the saying, “busy as a beaver” exists for a reason. Staff determined that the beaver would have to be trapped and relocated, but after a couple of months of monitoring, no evidence of beaver in this area was discovered. It was assumed they were washed downstream in the flood.

The temperature probes were reinstalled with heavier wire and more anchor points. Unfortunately, it was soon discovered that the beaver had relocated only 50 yards downstream and had begun rebuilding the dam. But this new dam was downstream of the bridge, and did not interfere with any equipment, so it was decided that it might be best to just leave the beaver there. Not only does this provide a consistent water level with the dam slowing the water in the creek, but they have been doing a good job of clearing out

instantly notified if a probe had gone missing or was offline and was no longer recording data. The permit requires a temperature recording every 15 minutes, so there is little room for error. Andy Cross, Water Quality Supervisor at Semper’s lab, jumped on board to order an inline temperature probe that does well in a creek environment. (Andy has expertise in all the drinking source water programs utilized in the mountains to monitor water quality in Clear Creek). The SCADA team jumped in to help figure out how we could program this temperature probe to record and track data in real-time on our SCADA system. Then, the BDC

ENGINEERING POSSIBILITIES.

maintenance team installed conduit from the plant down the creek and installed the new probes in a protective sleeve to deter any chewing by the beaver. Also, just for good measure, lab staff will continue to maintain the other two backup probes in the creek to have extra redundancy.

Not only was this a successful team project that spanned many groups, but also provided crucial online, real-time monitoring of these probes which ensures compliance with the discharge permit. This project was only successful due to the teamwork, expertise, and dedication of all the players involved.

Tara Wilson is the Water Quality Supervisor for the City of Westminster’s wastewater quality lab. She also manages the City’s Industrial Pretreatment and Biosolids Programs. Tara has been with the city for 22 years.

Bob Kutchen is the Plant Maintenance Supervisor for Westminster’s wastewater facility. He has been with the city for over 25 years.

Both would like to recognize the Westminster Water Quality Staff: Jesse Jones, Lindie Aragon, Alexi Bertrand, and Andy Cross, and the Westminster Maintenance Staff: Bill Moore, Jason Stahlecker, and David Valdivia. SCADA Staff Aaron Sturm, John Lambert, and Trevor Mohlenkamp.

Quick Connections

Do you have an amazing project to share but don’t have the time to write a full article for the Rocky Mountain Water Magazine? The Rocky Mountain Water Magazine Group launched a new magazine section called “Quick Connections” to connect members and their projects quickly.

RMSAWWA and RMWEA are soliciting short magazine submissions about your projects through a five-to-10-minute form. With a simple three-sentence limit, or about 280 words, we encourage utilities with limited staff time to submit short summaries about current projects.

Visit this QR code to have your project considered to be spotlighted in the magazine. You are 10 minutes away from sharing your ideas and connecting with others.

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Rocky Mountain Water is made possible by the companies below who convey their important messages on our pages. We thank them for their support of RMSAWWA and RMWEA and its publication and encourage you to contact them when making your purchasing decisions. To make it easier to contact these companies, we have included the page number of their advertisement, their phone number, and, where applicable, their website.

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