One Water Day 2024

Join representatives from communities along the Front range and across Colorado for an engaging discussion of one water planning, management, and collaboration strategies. Attendees will learn about the benefits of holistic “one water” management and inter-organizational collaboration from utilities implementing a one water management philosophy.

This program is part of the Watershed (Shed) Summit ’24 at the Denver Botanic Gardens. Register for both sessions for a full day of learning about water. Tickets to One Water Day may be purchased as an add-on to the Watershed Summit. Registration includes access to the Watershed Summit, happy hour, refreshments and entrance to Denver Botanic Gardens on June 21. Lunch is included for One Water Day registrants. 

Still have questions? Email John Rehring for more information. 

Draft Agenda

9:30 am
Welcome

10:00 am
Keynote Presentations & Fireside Chat

Becky Mitchell – Commissioner to the Upper Colorado River Commission
Senator Cleave Simpson – Colorado State Senator

10:30 am
Panel Discussion on The Importance of One Water

Speakers:
Mazdak Arabi – Colorado State University
Sarah Young – City of Aurora
Damian Higham – Denver Water
Mindy Bridges – US Water Alliance

Moderator:
Lauren Berent Burgess – The Greenway Foundation

11:35 am
Q&A: Panel Discussion

11:55 am
Conclusion & Break for Lunch

Co-Keynote Speaker: Rebecca Mitchell (Becky)

Commissioner to the Upper Colorado River Commission

Rebecca Mitchell (Becky) is the State of Colorado’s Commissioner to the Upper Colorado River Commission. Mitchell took on this role in July 2023 to enhance the state’s position in Colorado River interstate issues and negotiations on the operations of Lake Mead and Lake Powell. She is an accomplished water leader with over 20 years of experience in the water sector and highly knowledgeable in Colorado water law. Mitchell was also appointed Director of the Inter-Basin Compact Committee (IBCC) in October 2023. Mitchell’s appointment will strengthen and integrate water policy discussions happening across the state and the Colorado River Basin.

Previously, Mitchell was the Director of the Colorado Water Conservation Board  and played a significant role in developing the Colorado Water Plan, working with the state’s nine basin roundtables, the Interbasin Compact Committee, and the public. 

She has worked in both the public and private sector as a consulting engineer; she received both her B.S. and M.S. from the Colorado School of Mines.

Co-Keynote Speaker: Senator Cleave Simpson

Colorado State Senator

Cleave Simpson was born and raised in Alamosa Colorado.  He is the fourth generation of his family to farm and ranch in the San Luis Valley.  Cleave and his wife Cathy enjoy spending time in the amazing Valley with their loving family members, especially their grandchildren.  Cleave is the general manager of the Rio Grande Water Conservation District working across the Valley with all stakeholders addressing the water security issues in the basin.  He is also currently the Colorado State Senator representing senate district 06 which is comprised of 14 counties in southern and southwest Colorado, the west slope and the south slope.  He has served as a representative to the Rio Grande Basin Roundtable and the Roundtable representative to the statewide Interbasin Compact Committee.  Cleave was also the past chairman of the Adams State University Board of Trustees in Alamosa.  Through a thoughtful approach to preserve our rural values and landscapes Coloradoans cherish he expects to create opportunities for future Colorado generations to live and prosper in rural Colorado and enjoy the abundant and varied natural beauty of our great state.

Panelist: Mazdak Arabi

Colorado State University

Dr. Mazdak Arabi is the director and founder of the One Water Solutions Institute at Colorado State University.  His research is primarily focused on development of decision support systems for management of water resources at the watershed scale. Dr. Arabi has developed and demonstrated optimization-based approaches to facilitate development of watershed management plans that achieve water quality goals at significantly lower costs. He has published analytical and computational methods to support both deterministic and probabilistic evaluation of watershed-scale benefits of best management practices.

Panelist: Sarah Young

City of Aurora

Sarah Young has her B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Colorado at Denver and has 23 years of experience in the water sector. She is an Assistant General Manager at Aurora Water and leads the long-range planning, capital project delivery, development review and technology teams. Prior to working for the City of Aurora, Sarah worked as an engineering consultant and a general contractor. She loves spending time outdoors with her husband and two teenage boys and is riding a bike any chance she can get.

Panelist: Damian Highman

Denver Water

Damian Higham has his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Montana
State and has 23 years of experience in the water sector. He leads Denver Water’s recycled water program and One Water efforts. Damian’s duties include strategic and capital planning, regulatory development, permitting, policy development, customer marketing and compliance assurance. He is a past president of WateReuse Colorado and chair of the joint reuse committee of RMSAWWA/RMWEA.

Panelist: Mindy Bridges

US Water Alliance

Mindy Bridges is the State Policy and Government Affairs Manager at the US Water Alliance, a national nonprofit organization advancing policies and programs that build a sustainable water future for all. She also leads the coordination of delegations for the Alliance’s One Water Summit. Prior to joining the Alliance, she worked on environmental and agricultural policy with state legislatures and facilitated intergovernmental dialogues with states, Native American tribes, and the federal government. Mindy has a dual BA in anthropology and ecology & evolutionary biology from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Check out the Denver’s One Water Plan to learn more about our urban water cycle and the organizations involved in caring for this valuable resource.