Fort Lewis College will hold a monthlong workforce training program in May intended to “prepare the next generation of water operators” in southwest Colorado.
The training, called Fundamentals of Water Operations, is free to participants and will take place each Thursday in May at the FLC Center for Innovation in downtown Durango.
The program is being presented through a years-long partnership between Project RUN, FLC@Work, the Four Corners Water Center, the city of Durango and the La Plata Economic Development Alliance, according to a release published by the college last week.
The college called the water industry “a field facing growing demand across Southwest Colorado.”
Months of community engagement and industry input shaped the training, the release said, which included a regional demand assessment involving site visits and interviews with water operators across La Plata County and neighboring areas.
“The feedback that we got from every single system was that there is a significant need for this program,” Laura Rieck, assistant public works director of utilities for the city of Durango, said in the release. “They are in 100% support of it, and they want to be part of it.”
Project RUN and partners mapped out the curriculum by using an industry-driven process that crowd-sourced insight from water professionals from municipalities, small systems, Tribal utilities, and state agencies, the release said.
“That’s central to the Project RUN approach — building training side‑by‑side with the people who work in the industry every day,” Phelps Feeley, assistant director of workforce and community relations at FLC, said in the release. “We brought together operators, employers, and regulators to tell us what skills truly matter, and then designed the training around that real‑world input.”
Feeley said the training will be “hands-on and field-based” and provide “authentic exposure” to water careers.
In addition to classroom learning, participants will spend time at operational sites across the region, including water treatment facilities and laboratories, in order to gain experience in lab testing and equipment operation from licensed operators, the release said.
“Get people in the field, show them what this career track really looks like,” Feeley said.
The program is intended to create pathways into water careers, Carolyn Cummins, director of the Four Corners Water Center, said in the release.
“We’re recruiting operators to be mentors for our learners during the course, and who can then support them after the course to take the next step,” she said.
Internships, entry-level positions and certification pathways may be avenues participants take after completing the course, the release said.
The Ute Mountain Ute and Southern Ute Tribal public works and utilities departments were a part of developing the program, the release said, and participants will be exposed to Tribal Nation, municipal, and Colorado state water career pathways.
Libby Baumchen, program manager at the La Plata Economic Development Alliance, said water operator careers can offer a livable wage and add value to the community.
An average salary for a water operator in Colorado, depending on experience, is between $58,000 and $70,000, according to job sites like Glassdoor, Indeed and ZipRecruiter.
The release called water operations a profession that is “essential but often overlooked.”
“People don’t really know what this career is,” Cummins said in the release. “You realize that this field is so important. People take for granted the fact that you can turn on your tap and water will come out.”
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