About Us

 

Get Into Water! Project Background

 

The Get Into Water! Project, an alliance of Colorado-based utilities, workforce centers, educational institutions and associations, is organized to attract and train people to work in the water industry. The Rocky Mountain section of the American Water Works Association (RMSAWWA) and the Rocky Mountain Water Environment Association (RMWEA) have teamed with the Arapahoe Douglas Works!, Denver Office of Economic Development-Workforce Development, Workforce Boulder County, and local and regional water and wastewater providers to implement a strategic water workforce plan for Arapahoe, Boulder, Denver and Douglas Counties. The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment is funding the effort by providing $428,000 in grant funding. Additional in-kind resources in the amount of $148,000 have been contributed to the project.

There are thousands of people employed in operations-specific positions in these four counties. Operation employees are responsible for the health and well-being of millions of Coloradans. Their daily duties are critical to the protection of public health. But, the industry is facing imminent shortages of qualified, technically skilled personnel due to an aging workforce and other factors.  At the same time, the Front Range water community is striving to provide support for a growing population and economy. For these reasons, the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment has provided funding to help fill the employment gap.

 

Mission Statement

The Colorado water and wastewater industry will sufficiently recruit, train and retain personnel to ensure mission-critical positions are filled with qualified, trained & technically skilled employees. This project will address:
 

  • Outreach & recruitment
  • Training
  • Knowledge Retention
  • Human Resource & Operations Staff Collaboration

For the purpose of this project, mission-critical positions are defined as employees who work in:
 

  • Plant maintenance and repair
  • Water treatment operations
  • Water distribution operations
  • Wastewater treatment operations
  • Wastewater collection operations
  • SCADA/instrument control operations