Skip to main content

Natalie Teaze

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

Natalie Teaze - Stormwater Quality Technician

I am a Stormwater Quality Technician at the City of Boulder, which means I help keep the stormwater system in Boulder free of pollution. I do 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. I’m an avid runner and watcher of women’s sports (especially the WNBA).

My Path

Studying Environmental Chemistry in College

I’ve always spent a lot of time outdoors; much of what I do in my personal life, and now through work, comes back to my connection with the earth and my desire to take care of it. I switched from chemistry to environmental chemistry because I wanted to see the real-world application, better understand the world around me, and wanted to get outdoors – and I wanted the challenge of the higher-level chemistry classes.

Pursuing Public Service

I worked briefly in the private sector after school, but I knew I wanted to work in public service. I found the private sector to be more limiting than I hoped – I wanted to be out in the field, and to have a wider variety of tasks that were project and research-based. My first job in local government was as a Code Enforcement officer in Santa Barbara. At this job I not only worked on code enforcement, but I helped with stream restoration, collected water samples from a kayak, and even worked on a business sustainability certification program.

Moving to Colorado

Being from Southern California and living/working there my whole life, I always felt a longing to be closer to the mountains. Falling in love with mountain sports like skiing and trail running when I was younger was what originally drew me to study environmental science. I knew I would always feel like something was missing in my life if I never ventured outside of Southern California. I started applying for stormwater jobs in local government in places that I thought would fit the bill: beautiful mountains close by and a thriving local environmental science industry. I am so lucky and happy to have ended up in Boulder. P.S. I applied for my current job while still working and living in Santa Barbara and the job listing said for Colorado residents only to apply but I went for it anyways. Always shoot your shot!

My Work

Scales showing how this person's work breaks down. They most often work on distinct tasks and with people or in teams. Their time spent indoors and outdoors is evently split,

Stormwater Protection in the City

The city has its own permanent stormwater control measures, I oversee those to ensure they are working properly by conducting inspections and verifying they are maintained.

Stormwater Protection During Construction

I check on city construction projects to check that they are not causing stormwater pollution. I review design proposals, do inspections, and communicate with the construction team and city project managers.

Stormwater Protection in the Community

I talk to community members and businesses about how they can prevent stormwater pollution at outreach events and when I respond to spills in the community. I also support our water quality monitoring program by taking samples to monitor bacteria and other pollutants in our streams.

A woman in waders holding a bucket of water quality testing supplies walks through a river.

My Why

Stormwater pollution is an area where individual and local practices can have a measurable impact on our community. I can see how the outreach I do to residents and businesses about actionable solutions makes a difference. Working in local government has brought me a lot of job satisfaction – I get to connect with people and directly see the impact I am making.

Aerial view of a woman in waders standing in the middle of a shallow slow moving river.

My Advice

Look at job listing websites, search for “water” or anything else that is important to you and then look at the descriptions and qualifications for jobs that come up. See what jobs are out there and which parts of them look interesting to you – what would your dream job look like?