Careers in Water

Water Professionals in the Classroom

Invite a water professional into your classroom! Let your students hear from someone who plays a role in keeping the water in our community safe and clean. This list includes local government employees representing a wide variety of career opportunities in the world of water.

Middle and high school teachers in Boulder Valley and St. Vrain Valley School Districts can email KICP Coordinator Cristina Ramirez at [email protected] to get contact information for the person or people you are interested in inviting to your classroom.

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Allison Wheeler – Wastewater Surveillance Unit Manager

Allison Wheeler is the Wastewater Surveillance Unit Manager at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. Allison oversees the state program that works with wastewater utilities and local public health agencies to collect and analyze wastewater samples to assess trends of disease within a community. This is an anonymous, cost-effective method that can help allocate resources to communities when we see increasing disease trends.

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Annita McCormick – Environmental Compliance Manager

Annita McCormick is the Environmental Compliance Manager for the City of Louisville. She oversees the Environmental Compliance program, which is responsible for protecting water quality and works with industry, businesses, residents, and municipal operations to reduce pollutants entering the city’s drinking water and waterways. Annita assists with achieving safe drinking water, properly treated wastewater, and pollution-free stormwater by managing and maintaining regulatory compliance in several areas within the Environmental Compliance program.

A black crowed night-heron with white stomach and shimmering blackish blue wings and head sits on a branch near the water.

Carl Job – Water Quality Specialist

Carl Job is a Water Quality Specialist at Boulder County Public Health. He is responsible for managing water quality programs that protect public health. This work includes overseeing drinking water and wastewater systems, responding to waterborne illnesses, and monitoring recreational water sources.

Christine Katz – Civil Engineer

Christine Katz is a Civil Engineer for Public Works and Utilities at the Town of Superior. She organizes and manages road and storm water maintenance and capital improvement projects for the town. This includes identifying projects that need to be completed, finding funding them, and procuring and managing design teams and contractors throughout a project. Christine is also the floodplain manager and responsible for the stormwater program. In these roles she ensures the town stays in compliance with FEMA’s floodplain management program and Colorado’s stormwater permit requirements.

A woman stands at a table with infographics and educational materials talking to three young kids.

Cristina Ramirez - KICP Coordinator

Cristina Ramirez is the Keep it Clean Partnership (KICP) Coordinator. KICP is a collaborative program made up of Boulder County, cities of Boulder, Lafayette, Longmont, and Louisville, and the town of Superior. Cristina supports these communities with their stormwater programs by coordinating professional trainings and doing education and outreach. She spends most of her time creating educational materials and talking to residents, businesses, and schools about how we can protect water quality in our watershed by preventing stormwater pollution.

American Kestrel bird with rusty red chest and tail with black and white details on the wings is perched on a tree.

Greg Venette – Utilities Superintendent

Greg Venette is the Utilities Superintendent at the City of Louisville. He oversees the operation, maintenance, and management of the City’s Drinking Water and Wastewater treatment plants.

Hope Bartlett - Water Conservation Specialist

Hope Bartlett is a Water Conservation Specialist with the City of Longmont. She manages and implements the indoor and outdoor Water Conservation programs for Longmont community members, including both programs for homes and businesses. Hope works collaboratively across departments in the city—such as Planning, Sustainability, and Natural Resources—to align water efficiency with broader sustainability, equity, and land-use goals. Her role includes coordinating data collection, efficiency measurements, and interacting with the state for annual reporting and collaboration, while also leading community education efforts and partnerships with other local water and sustainability organizations. She supports funding initiatives, such as local, state and federal grants, presents to City Council and advisory boards, and continuously researches best practices to help Longmont address water conservation in a climate-resilient and community-centered way.

A woman in waders stands in a creek using a water quality monitoring tool.

Natalie Teaze – Stormwater Quality Technician

Natalie Teaze is a Stormwater Quality Technician at the City of Boulder. Natalie helps keep the stormwater system in Boulder free of pollution. She does this by inspecting and maintaining green infrastructure throughout the City, helping monitor Boulder Creek for bacteria and other pollutants, making sure City construction projects are not polluting, and enforcing City code on illicit discharges to the stormwater system.

Sarah Studebaker - Senior GIS Analyst

Sarah Studebaker is a Senior GIS Analyst at the City of Boulder. Sarah supports water utilities by maintaining and enhancing geospatial and asset management systems that drive operations, engineering, and planning. She specializes in delivering spatial analyses, automating data workflows, and integrating field data collection with enterprise GIS and Asset Management systems to improve infrastructure management and decision-making. Sarah’s work ensures accurate, accessible data for storm, sewer, and water distribution systems.

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Sharla Benjamin - Engineer and Stream Restoration Project Manager

Sharla Benjamin is an Engineer and Stream Restoration Project Manager at Boulder County. Sharla leads teams to design and construct large stream and watershed restoration or cleanup projects. Some of the large project descriptions she has worked on include: watershed and stream habitat recovery following the 2013 flood, watershed and stream channel recovery from the Calwood fire, post-flood stream restoration that included native fish passage and riparian corridor enhancements for the Preble’s Meadow Jumping Mouse, and understanding and finding solutions for treatment of ongoing water contamination associated with legacy hard rock mining that occurred near Nederland, CO.

Stacy Deal – Water Quality and Environmental Compliance Coordinator

Stacy Deal is a Water Quality and Environmental Compliance Coordinator with the City of Longmont. Stacy serves as a subject matter expert on a few different water-related regulations and laws. The City of Longmont has a lot of different projects going on around the city, from trail building to housing developments to utility line repairs. She ensures that all this work is done in a way that protects our local waterways and meets the requirements of important water quality regulations.

Trevor DePew – Water Treatment Supervisor

Trevor DePew is the Water Treatment Supervisor for the City of Louisville Water Treatment Department. Trevor leads operations that ensure safe, clean drinking water for the community. He uses his background in Biological and Environmental Science to optimize treatment processes and promote sustainability. Trevor’s role focuses on building a strong, skilled team, while fostering individual career growth; all with the shared goal of protecting public health through innovative and effective water management.

Tyler Dell – Stormwater Program Manager

Tyler Dell is the Stormwater Program Manager for the City of Longmont. He leads a team focused on protecting local water quality from stormwater pollution. This role involves overseeing drainage systems, ensuring compliance with environmental regulations, and implementing strategies to prevent pollution from entering rivers and streams. He is also responsible for guiding the design and maintenance of stormwater infrastructure and working with developers to meet water-related standards. Tyler plays a key role in safeguarding the community’s water resources through engineering, policy, and education.

Career Profiles Coming Soon

Soon teachers, students, and other community members will be able to browse in-depth career profiles for staff involved in with every aspect of water in our community. Each profile shows the unique path that person took to their career in water – their influences, educational and experience, and what they love most about their job.