DURANGO, Colo.— After recently moving from Carlson, Ariz., to Durango, Colo., Keith Overall was nervous about his job prospects in the area. Overall, 34, had been working in building clean rooms for Intel's chip production, and was wondering what career path he would take next.
He was excited when, at the urging of his girlfriend, a Fort Lewis College student, he signed up for a Fundamentals of Water Operations training offered free this May.
"Since day one, I knew this is definitely going to be the career I want to go into," Overall said. "I learned a lot about water operations that I never even thought about. It's an amazing program."
Overall was one of 23 participants completing the Fundamentals of Water Operations training, held each Thursday in May at the FLC Center for Innovation in downtown Durango. The program, funded by Project Rural Upskilling Network (Project RUN), is the result of 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.
Laura Rieck, assistant public works director for utilities at the City of Durango, said the course was part of a long-term strategy to develop much-needed water operators. 
"We're seeing a 30 to 50% retirement coming in wastewater operators throughout the nation, and it's no different here," she said. "It's called the Silver Tsunami. The majority of water and wastewater operators are over the age of 45 and looking to retire in the next five to ten years."
Fort Lewis College, the City of Durango, the La Plata Economic Development Alliance and Project RUN came together to develop the curriculum, drawing participants from the five counties in the Four Corners area and representing both large and small water systems.
"We got together for a design sprint and decided: what's the most basic information that people would need to know to get into water and wastewater operations?," Rieck said. "This program is training people to have hands on experience and are working toward their initial certifications."
Rieck said the field is far broader than most people realize.
"Water and wastewater operations is how you get water out of your faucet, and what happens after you put water down the drain or put things down the toilet? There'san entire industry behind that, that people don't even think about. Water and wastewater operations include water treatment, water distribution, wastewater collections, wastewater treatment… the water and wastewater industry is enormous, and there's everything from lab technician to civil engineer control systems, treatment, biochemistry. If you're interested in science at all, you can find a career pathway in water and wastewater."
"One of the best parts of this program has been the opportunity to work in partnership between FLC, the City of Durango, and the broader water operations community in our region,” said Carolyn Cummins, director of the Four Corners Water Center. “This is a community that is truly committed to protecting public and environmental health and to opening doors for the next generation of water operations professionals. The way everyone showed up and supported this program with their time, expertise, and mentorship is what made the Fundamentals of Water Operations training a success"
Mentoring the water workforce
For David Belmear, collections manager with the City of Durango, the program offered an opportunity to mentor would-be water operators and make them aware of the diverse opportunities available within the field.
"What was valuable to me about this training is that it gave me a great opportunity to recruit people for several empty positions that we currently have," he said, noting that among his mentees was Keith Overall [check last name]. "I was able to chat with him. He's kind of new to Durango, and definitely new to the water wastewater field.And I told him of the opportunity that we have at the city, and he was able to put in an application, and we hired him. So it was a win win for both of us."
Agreeing was Overall.
"I applied and then got me an interview. I took the interview yesterday, and I was offered a position. So I'm gonna pursue it."
"It's actually more interesting than the career I was just doing in semiconducting. It was a good paying job, but I wasn't really entertained or just learning anything. It was just repetitive every day. And this one, I can tell, you're gonna learn something new every day. Don't matter how long you're employed for it. I'm excited for that."
Growing opportunity
Not all participants came with career-change ambitions. Some arrived with a deeper connection to water itself.
Valerie Ramirez, a rising environmental sciences senior at FLC, heard about the opportunity through the Four Corners Water Center. She was mentored by Rieck and said Rieck's career path gave her a new sense of what's possible.
"I think she's amazing. She's been really inspiring and really encouraging. For me to be getting into this industry it is like a male dominated industry and Laura has been very, very encouraging, for me to just keep going and not get intimidated," Ramirez said. "I would like to find some sort of leadership role in water operations. I'm really brand new to all of this, but this course has exposed me to so much, to so many possibilities. I never considered being a leader until taking this class and realizing that there are so many more opportunities besides just working in a plant."
FLC alumna Teresa Simmons, (Environmental Conservation and Management, ’26) came to the program out of curiosity and left with a clearer sense of purpose.
"I really love water, so I just thought I'd try this and see what it was about," she said. "It's been really good so far, and it's been just valuable knowing the forefront of what these people do for the community, and town, and everyone, and making sure that the drinking water is safe for everyone."
Simmons said she has always considered water sacred, a conviction deepened after spending six months without running water. She is now considering pursuing a career in water advocacy.
"I would love to help other people or just the community be aware of just how precious (water) is and what the water process is, what it goes through, just to get in your faucet and get in that drinking cup."
Ryannen Ahasteen arrived with similar instincts. Ahasteen, who is Diné and lives on the Navajo Nation, signed up because of how much water matters to her community.
"Water is life. My community struggles with extraction of fossil fuels, and that requires a lot of fresh water to be utilized and no longer being usable,” she said adding participating in the class helped her understand how water is processed.
"I still need to learn what I'm doing and what I'm working with and understand it so that I can be more valuable in my community. It's been really interesting to just learnthe mechanics behind how everything works."
Ahasteen also said she valued working with her two mentors from the Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute tribes.
"For me, getting a really good education and free of charge, that's amazing. And the education that they're providing you and training is really, you can't find that just not having this program, honestly."
Overall said he knows he has a ways to go, but he's confident he'll get the hands-on training needed to, eventually, do the job unsupervised.
Asked if he'd recommend the program to others, he didn't hesitate.
"I'd recommend it to a friend, or even strangers. Like, if you're looking for a career change, this is definitely something you should do. Great training, great education that comes with it, and just great opportunities that it really walks into. It's a lot of pathways, of opportunity."
Phelps Feeley, assistant director of Workforce Development and Career Services at FLC, said the training is a great example of what can be accomplished when community organizations partner in innovative ways.
“FLC@Work connects FLC's expertise to the real workforce needs of the Four Corners. The Fundamentals of Water Operations training shows what that looks like: through Project RUN, regional partners including the City of Durango, the La Plata Economic Development Alliance, and the Four Corners Water Center, identified the gap, and we built the training together. Participants walked out with pathways to real jobs. That's the model we aspire to, professional and workforce trainings built here, for here.”
To learn more about this or other FLC@Work programs visit work.fortlewis.edu or contact Feeley at pfeeley@fortlewis.edu.