Happy New Year, Rocky Mountain Water Environment Association!
As we raise a glass of tap water to 2026 and set goals for the new year, let’s also take a moment to reflect. What are you grateful for this past year? What sparked your passion or curiosity? What is your role in your community, job, or volunteer position, and how can you expand on that in the coming year?
RMWEA is fortunate to have passionate members dedicated to providing clean water to the public and the environment, and experts guiding the implementation of technology, government affairs, utility management, and training in our region. For me, it has been encouraging to see our members helping one another through federal funding shifts, economic uncertainty, natural disasters, and water scarcity. Our industry shows up – whether that means providing utility bill assistance, offering mutual aid, or helping to draft new regulations for water reuse in response to drought. Thank you for all that you do!
RMWEA highlights from 2025 include our Operations Challenge Teams, who achieved an unprecedented top-three sweep at the WEFTEC Operations Challenge Competition in Chicago. Congratulations to 1st Place Elevated Ops (Metro Water Recovery), 2nd Place Sewerside Squad (City of Westminster), 3rd Place Double Duty (Metro Water Recovery), and the Commode Commandos (South Platte Renew) for exemplifying skill, dedication, and teamwork at the international level. What an achievement!
Another top moment was Colorado School of Mines winning the 2025 regional Student Design Competition and competing in the Circular Water Economy category of the WEF Student Design Competition at WEFTEC. The future is bright! RMWEA hosted a variety of operator training events throughout the year, including Fundamentals and Intermediate/Advanced Schools, Leadville School, and Professional Water Operator (PWO) Seminars in Vail, Englewood, Estes Park, Greeley, Grand Junction, Colorado Springs, and Santa Fe. Congratulations to the operators who tested for licenses and levels this year!
Looking ahead to 2026, the encompassing theme across all industries is artificial intelligence (AI). We are experiencing a rapidly evolving shift in how we conduct business, analyze data, communicate information, and develop the workforce, which requires adaptive learning and strategic communication. How do you communicate with your staff about AI? How do you build, develop, and retain your workforce? What tools can improve safety, security, budgeting, sustainability, treatment, and asset management? AI has the potential to supercharge innovation and inspire creative solutions to problems previously thought too large to tackle. As we become more experienced with AI and discern its benefits from its disadvantages, it will be important to communicate our learnings and collaborate within the industry to help one another navigate uncharted waters.
An important event to keep an eye on in 2026 is the deadline for Colorado River negotiations between the seven basin states as they work to come to an agreement for a new river management plan. The results of the negotiations will have lasting impacts across the West.
RMWEA aims to be inquisitive and nimble to meet our membership in the moment. We are embarking on a multi-year “Value of Water” communications and outreach campaign to highlight the role of water in communities across Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mexico. The campaign’s objectives are to attract members, showcase our industry, educate about water reclamation’s role in local economies and the environment, identify career pathways to the water industry, and serve as a resource for smaller communities.
We are also enhancing how we reach out to prospective water workforce members. RMWEA is excited to support the "Hydro Heroes" program envisioned by Dotti Ramey (Jacobs) and Becca Chapa (Black and Veatch), who won RMWEA’s annual Innovative Water Technology Shark Tank Competition with their idea. The initiative will help develop a “Roadmap to a Water Career” for veterans and military personnel.
Our newly branded Students and Young Professionals Committee (SYPC) is leading the way to connecting students and young professionals with mentorship and networking opportunities, including the 2026 Student Conference at the University of New Mexico, which will highlight research and engineering designs by students across the region. We are looking forward to new ideas and perspectives coming out of the SYPC.
While the challenges are many in 2026, they are not without opportunity!