Jeni Arndt, Water Center Director Interview Recording

February 28, 2025

10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. MST

Jennifer Gimbel: Good morning. Thank you very much for being here at an open forum. I am Jennifer Gimbel. I’m chair of the search committee for the Colorado Water Center director. And we are so glad that you’re participating, either here in person or online. Thank you for looking at this. Jeni knows that she is being recorded, and if you’re so impressed with her presentation, tell your friends and follow the link, and they’ll go and watch that presentation, as well as the presentation we have on Monday. So, I’m just gonna let Jeni Arndt, Dr. Arndt, introduce herself, and take it away. Thank you for being here, Jeni.

Jeni Arndt: Oh, thanks for having me. And honestly, thank you for coming to this. I’m sure on Friday, this, top of mind, but I really do appreciate having the audience. And thanks to anybody who’s gonna Zoom in or look at it later. It’s important that you know what you think you might want for the future Water Center at Colorado State University. So, I titled my presentation, well, first, I’ll just say, I usually don’t speak to slides because when I’m talking, I really feel like I wanna set up a transactional, instead of a sort of a transmission, model of communication. But I am gonna start with about a 30-minute presentation. Maybe not. Then we’ll have Q and A, and I hope you ask me a lot.

So, I titled my presentation “Colorado Water Center, Honoring the Past and Meeting Challenges of Tomorrow.” And part of the reason why I mentioned that, and I’ll probably mention it a couple times during the presentation, is the people who came before us in the water world of Colorado were absolutely our foreparents set up. I see someone who was integral in the Colorado Thompson. I see other people who are head of the water. I see people, long-time people, I know and worked with over years who have really made decisions, made Colorado Water what it is today. Part of the reason why I wanted to apply for this job was I was hoping to be half as smart as anybody who came before me, to be part of what the. And, of course, I know that’s not just me. That it would be absolutely. Okay. So for an overview of the presentation, is first I’m gonna answer the two questions that I was sent to answer, right? And each of those questions has two parts. The first one is, what’s your vision of the Colorado Water Center? And the second part is, how would I accomplish that? Second question is identify the challenges in water moving forward. That could take all day, but I’ve narrowed it down. And how would the Water Center play a critical role addressing these? And then I throw in one big idea that I’ve been wondering about, that I do spend a lot of time thinking about and bouncing off of other people. I conclude with a few of my qualifications and restating my vision. And the reason why I’m going to do my qualifications, which makes me uncomfortable to talk about, actually, but I realize that I’m now presenting in a role where some of you may know me in a different way. So what do you envision as the future of the Colorado Water Center and how would you accomplish that? I spent a lot of time thinking about this, and I narrowed it down to these few sentences. So let’s just talk about, the Water Center, Colorado Water Center, serves as the trusted hub. And that’s a very carefully chosen word. Supporting cutting-edge scientific research, educational activities, collaboration across disciplines, and engagement across our state and region with a variety of stakeholders. That’s a lot to unpack there. It’s quite dense. But all those efforts could coalesce into informed, deliberate decision-making related to water issues across the American West. And I don’t mean decision-making made by the center. I mean the center acts as the coalescing force, and the decision-making is collective. So how would you accomplish this? It’s a piece of cake. Well, first, let’s start with honoring the past and what’s here at CSU now, right? The advantages, right? There’s the remarkable talent and resources available at Colorado State University and across our state. They can be pulled together to make this vision a reality, right? And we can talk for a long time of what’s here, the advantages of CSU through extension, engagement, through the programming they have, the education that’s offered. Everything, all the scientific research, the One Water that we have in engineering, the Spur, all the advantages, right? So the Water Center can build on both the economies of scale and economies of scope. And I get those phrases from Akridge and Hertel. When I was looking about what makes a center or an institute, part of a university, successful, there’s a really nice article about that written by these gentlemen. They talk about economies of scale, right? So the center can take advantage of the economies of scale, which is disciplinary activities, in this case, water, which can benefit from multiple individuals coming together to work on a common problem, right? So that’s basically our scientific pillars, right? Our ag, our engineering, our social sciences, right? That’s economies of scale. How do we bring them together to create that? The other part, to me, to help bring out the vision that I stated earlier for the Water Center is by taking advantages of the economies of scope. And Perry and I were talking about this on the way over. And that’s where individuals of diverse backgrounds, which CSU is an expert at engaging, come together, demonstrating complementarity across disciplines, right? Background, skills, and perspectives to work on a common problem. So you have scale that we need to work on, and then we have scope. That’s how we can help. Akridge and Hertel identified 10, eight factors that make a successful center or institute. But some of what they were discussing was the foundation of an institute or center, and the continuation of that. Because, as we know, the water institutes were set up in 1964 through the Water Resources Act, it’s a mature center. So I find our Water Center at these two places, right? Flexibility and adaptability will be a success factor. And I don’t like focusing on the negative, but we need to address and make sure that we avoid the pitfalls. The critical topics have changed. I see that in the water world, or changing. Actually, they’re expanding, I would say. And a pitfall would be if the stakeholder interests evolve, but the center does not, right? We have to be careful of that. We also. Hi.

Jennifer Gimbel: Hate to interrupt. I’m really sorry. But we haven’t started the online meeting, so that there’s people online that are trying to wait.

Jeni Arndt: Oh. Oh, thanks for telling us.

Jennifer Gimbel: Yeah.

Jeni Arndt: Start over?

Jennifer Gimbel: I got some messages.

Jeni Arndt: Well, can we just rerun the tape?

Jennifer Gimbel: You don’t need to start over.

Jeni Arndt: Okay.

Jennifer Gimbel:  There’s 23 people on a Teams meeting.

Jeni Arndt: Yes.

– Jennifer Gimbel: That are seeing this. Several people waiting in the Teams meeting.

– Jeni Arndt: Waiting to be included in the Teams meeting?

Jennifer Gimbel: Yeah. There are none currently waiting in the Teams meeting. That could be .

Jeni Arndt: Is it started?

Jennifer Gimbel: Yes, it is.

Jennifer Gimbel: So, okay, I’m getting messages from them that they’re not able to hear anything. The open forum is not available online. Can you try and talk to them? Oh, and you are sharing your screen.

– Jeni Arndt: Yeah.

Jennifer Gimbel: Okay. Huh.

Jeni Arndt: Yeah, and we have another laptop up here that’s joined separately and it’s showing it-

Jennifer Gimbel: Okay.

Jeni Arndt: As well.

Jennifer Gimbel: Huh, it said there’s several of them in there.

Jeni Arndt: Are they in the wrong link, perhaps?

Jennifer Gimbel: I don’t know. Maybe in the wrong link.

Jeni Arndt: Yeah, well. Unusual glitch. Piece of cake. This isn’t the worst thing that’s ever happened in the water world.

Jennifer Gimbel: Okay. I’ll ask them to join to check their links. Maybe just. Okay. It looks like we might need to resend it to them.

Jeni Arndt: Oh, do you wanna do? Oh, and it is being recorded, so they could go back and watch it. Yeah. Okay, okay.

Jennifer Gimbel: We’re good.

Jeni Arndt: Okay. Thanks.

Jennifer Gimbel: Thank you.

Jeni Arndt: Okay. So we were talking about how to avoid the pitfalls, not what the pitfalls are. We’re gonna fall into ’em, how to avoid ’em, right? So the center could fail to respond to changes in institutional leadership, funding streams, and that is the topic that we need to talk about. So then leadership and governance, right? And that’s where the Water Center is. That’s why I’m here, right? You’re looking for a new leader of the Water Center. A pitfall would be the center leadership fails to effectively engage center members, right? And then this last one does probably not pertain. The center does not retain control, influence over strategic decisions. Those are some of the pitfalls, but these are some of the things that we need to address. So the Colorado Water Center is at an inflection point, just like we are in a lot of things, right? It’s not unique, right? We’re seeing more challenges and we’re gonna come up to those. But the idea that you’re flexible and adaptable and you can reimagine the work that you need to do and the way you do it is absolutely essential to the success, long-run success, of the Water Center. And then good leadership and governance, and the way we go forward together. I say that Colorado Water Center is a natural institutional home to put all those pieces together across the scale and scope. I think, in order to get to this vision, that Colorado Water Center leads with unwavering attention to science, a rock-solid commitment to our land-grant mission, a steady eye and effective stewardship of one of our most precious and natural resources. The Colorado Water Center considers how it can work for the benefit of all the stakeholders. The Colorado Water Center functions with a kind heart, relentless optimism, and a faith that we can and will solve our most pressing challenges. And then the Colorado Water Center hustles, right? We’re gonna bring boundless energy to the tasks ahead, right? We’re gonna work hard with a certain verve and intentionality. And the Colorado Water Center secures funding streams and human resources to serve that mission, right? A little bit about funding resources. I think this is the elephant in the room right now, right? I don’t know of a single institution or entity that isn’t impacted right now by some of what’s happening at the federal level. That impacts the local level. How does the Water Center stay flexible and adaptable, one of those success factors, to reimagining maybe where some of the funding can come from, where it hasn’t traditionally, right? I’m a firm optimist. There will always be resources available for an effective policy center on water. And people will be willing to fund that if you earn their trust and you do good work. So let’s see. So question two is, what are some of the major challenges for water in the West and how can the Water Center inform those issues? I alphabetized these because I came up with so many that I thought, stop. And then I didn’t want someone say, ’cause, you know, “Oh, well, you didn’t say this, or you put this first.” I did not prioritize these, right? So let’s just talk about some, and we can come back for Q and A on some of these ’cause they really could take a while. So we have aridification, or what we think is aridification. It’s mostly uncertainty. Right now, it looks like aridification, but you can imagine that maybe at some point in the future, it’s not, a long time. We have blue state, red state divisions, right? Either real or perceived. But basically we have political boundaries where rules and regulations are made, and that impacts our natural system, that doesn’t respect these human-made boundaries, right? We are seeing a de-emphasis on environmental protections. We’re seeing extreme events, fire, floods, climate change. I mentioned the federal uncertainty. And that’s not just in funding, of course. We know that’s also in the regulatory area, too. Outdated administrative and regulatory systems that may not have adapted or been as flexible that we need to address our natural systems. Some of them certainly should stay, some of them need to be reconsidered. We have permitting issues. Somebody’s looking aside, permitting issues. State legislators creating a patchwork of regulations, again, across states, where we know that water doesn’t respect those boundaries that we set up. Systemic delays in building, replacing, and repairing. It’s driving up costs for the public. Uncertain infrastructure funding. And we have workforce, we have work. I don’t know if it’s so much of a challenge, but it’s something that we really need to work to make sure that we have the workforce coming up. So how can we address those challenges, right? Well, one of the jobs of the new center director is because we have these challenges, is we’re gonna have to prioritize, right? So I’m not saying that we’re gonna hit these all at the same time, right? But certainly amplify the current work of the Water Center, including the programs, the education, extension conferences, and interdisciplinary collaboration that have existed for decades. But right now, probably need to go back and do some work to amplify those, where needed. Deepen connections within the university first, and then across our state and region. Assist in solving real-world problems by including a wide variety of stakeholders. And facilitate deliberate, evidence-based decision-making in the policy arena, right? So what have I been wondering about? I gave you a little teaser in the overview. I’ve really been thinking hard because in the More About Me section, I do serve. The governor has me on the Water Quality Control Commission. I also served on the, he put me on the WOTUS task force, the Waters of the United States task force, to try to respond to the Sackett decision, the federal and the Supreme Court. That experience, coupled with my legislative experience in the municipal one, now, and then just some, honestly, thinking about how things work and how they don’t work, is I feel like we need to reimagine this administrative regulatory system again to make it more closely mirror natural systems. So by that, I mean we have water quality in Colorado Department of Health and Environment. We have water quantity in DNR. We have, Ag has water, we have groundwater. The way we administer those and surface water, groundwater, you know, our scientists, our hydrologists, our engineers, they’re all telling us this is how the system works. Yet as humans, we insist on saying, “Oh, no, but we only deal with that here. Oh, well, no, we only deal with that over here.” So last year, I was part of the Water Quality Control Commission’s first-ever meeting with the Colorado Water Conservation Board. We sat together in one room for two hours, and people were like, “Wow.” I’m like, “Well, it’s a start.” But we have these examples of the One Water Institute. Colorado, or Fort Collins has just done a One Water model. Denver Water’s done a One Water model. Why can’t we, as humans in the regulatory administrative space, and I would say the Water Policy Center is not an advocate, but a trusted policy center, to help consider these things? Why can’t we be better at regulating? Because I think the only new net water you’re gonna get is when the humans come together, right? Our engineers and scientists know. And we need to listen in that sort of space. So I’ve been bouncing that idea around people when I meet ’em, and it’s interesting to see the reaction, right? I also am the liaison to the Water Power Authority. And I actually sat down with them and met with them, and they were like, “You’re the first somebody from water quality who ever sat with the Water Power Authority.” And I’m like, “Really? That’s funny.” We can do better in that way and better serve our natural systems, right? So I’m happy to talk about that or any questions you might have about that. And then this is, what’s the mayor doing here? Some of you know me as mayor, and I have worn many hats over my past. I have been in legislature for seven years, where I was chair of Water, but that’s a rotating chair. And then I was chair of Ag. And I like to say I had a little trouble with the front office, so then I wasn’t chair of Ag. And then the speaker changed, and that I was chair of Ag. But really, I never gave up all the work that we needed to do to do the right legislation for the state of Colorado. So in my resume, I mean, I have some other things. Peace Corps volunteer, special ed teacher. I have three children. I’ve been married for 35 years. So I have some side hustles, but I started setting water in 2013 when my predecessor said that there wouldn’t be a lotta water knowledge left at the Capitol when he left. I turned 50 that year. And so I thought, oh, actually, the next year I was 50. I thought, this is a new learning. And so I just put myself through, I call it the DIY Master’s Degree in Public Water Policy. And I’ve just followed the Water Committee around all summer. And I just sat and listened. I sat in the back. And by the time I got to the legislature, I knew the players, and they were like, “We’ve never met you.” I go, “I know, I just, I was always in the back.” But I was just listening and watching and learning. I paid for myself to go to a bunch of water law conferences. I did every water tour that was available, through Northern, through Aurora, anybody, Colorado Springs Utilities. I would just go, Arkansas Valley, anywhere. Those were important learnings because what I wanted to be was a good legislator. I really did. I wanted to be an effective, thoughtful one in a really complicated topic. And I also said, and I used to ride my bike to the bookstore at CSU and see what water courses were being offered. Then I would just buy the books, but not take the class. And I’d just read ’em because I know how to study, right? I do have a PhD from Purdue University in 2005, so I’m a motivated sort of studier. And then I came back and I got half an MBA at CSU, but I had to quit when I became a legislator. And I have my LSAT book right by my bed. And my husband’s like, “I swear to, one more, mm.” I was like, “It’s never too late, honey.” He’s like, “No!” So I’m bringing some of that background and knowledge. I’m bringing that sort of willingness to learn. I also bring a lot of relationships. Over the years, I’ve built up a lot of relationships in the water world, and I think that can be effective. I hope people trust me. I’ve worked hard to be trustworthy. On my resume, I put the 39 bills I co-sponsored, and I didn’t do one without a Republican on it with me. My first four years at the Capitol, we had split chambers. And the next three, we had the Democrats for House and Senate. And it didn’t matter to me because if you can’t get somebody who thinks a little differently from you on the bill, then it’s not a good idea for Colorado, right? It’s just not. And so you’re not legislating for a political purpose. You’re doing policy for the people. That’s how I approach that. So I just gave you that little background in case you’re wondering why the mayor’s here. And I’ve been able to do some cool, help a little bit on the water thing, although it really annoys the city when I get involved in a topical area. But I think we’ve made some headways there. What I need to learn is really so much more, right? I am not a technical water expert. I am a water policy person, and that’s the piece of the elephant that I get to touch. You can’t do that sort of people-oriented part of water without everybody else around you, right? So I need to learn how the water policy can best serve you, right? I need to know what the faculty at CSU, how can it be something that’s additive to their work? Can we take some of the, you know, you’re busy doing the science or I see some here, you’re busy doing the rock-solid, hardcore science of that. How can the Water Center assist you in your work to either make some economies of scale or economies of scope for you? Or take away some of the things that you feel like you have to do that aren’t really what you might be doing, that we could do, right? And you’re never, never, never competing. You’re always, always collaborating and complementing. That’s the role of the Water Center, right? Once we know, you know, how we start here at home, with CSU and the faculty, our scientists, our researchers, our extensionists, right? Taking advantage of all the things. And then there is a charge with the water, the 54 National Water Institutes that have set up federally to be this collaborator with other higher ed institutions in Colorado. And so I think that we could, after initial work, you know, reach out and work that way. That’s just some of the things that I need to learn. I also probably need to learn about how CSU works more. Look, it’s a different institution. Everyone is. And so part of being good at your job is knowing how to navigate your institution well so you can get your job done. And then, frankly, just keep learning and bringing people together. So there’s a lot I need to learn, and I would be relying on everybody to help me. And then if this, you know, obviously, this is a vision I’ve thought by doing my research and homework and thinking. I’ve been watching this water job for years, right? And it just felt like this was the right time, right? I think the leadership’s right. So I’ve been crafting that over probably three or four months. And I don’t know if that would be sort of something that people would like to have a shared vision for, but if so, we can always tweak it or make it something else. But I just wanted to leave you with that and answer any questions you may have.

Audience Member: Thanks. That’s a great vision. I appreciate all of that. And at one time, Tony Frank asked me, he said, “CSU used to be really great in water. What happened?” And I thought about that a long time, and it was kinda like your topic there, that the critical topics are changing and expanding there. So if you couple that with the sort of changing mission of the institutions, and in particular the diminished public trust in universities and government in general, and the fact that CSU wants to really focus on democracy, you know, as an institution, excuse me, what could the Water Center do and add to this whole mixture in terms of new program and things we could do to foster better public trust, better understanding, lower regulatory barriers, all these things, right? How could we put it all together?

Jeni Arndt: Well, maybe that’s the mission. No, that’s a great question. I’m not gonna be able to thoroughly answer that, but I think part of that answer is, I was telling the city the other day, with the upcoming elections, it’s like you have to maintain the trust. I think Colorado State University is a trusted actor, right? I think the Water Center’s trusted. But you can’t do anything that would violate or break that trust. And then you need to build on that, right? So I think all, as I said, like all the infrastructure, the bones are there. The Water Center needs to pick ’em up and put ’em together, right? And then it’s very clear that even if it’s a policy center, it’s not an advocacy center, right? You never wanna be in the advocacy space because you can lose trust in a dime, right? So you’re really enabling policy discussions, right? And being solution-oriented for the people that you’re working with, not for the center itself, right? And then it takes hard work and good relationships. And, you know, as trite as it sounds, it is being empathetic and understanding what people’s experiences are and doing that genuinely. You know, at the Capitol, I came in with a little bit of a backlog to fill on the trust factor of the, with all due respect to my predecessor, was very partisan. And people looked at me and they’re like, “Oh, here comes the next one,” right? I had a lotta work to do to sit down with people to try to understand what their viewpoint was. So I think the reason why I became Ag chair was because after my freshman year, I got in my car and I drove to everybody. Every single committee person on the committee, I drove to there, where they lived. They said, “What are you doing that for?” And I said, “Well, because next year, when legislation comes up, I wanna better understand why you’re voting the way you are and how you see the world. Like, I’m gonna be a better legislator ’cause I’ve been to your farm, I’ve been to your ranch, I’ve been to the Sterling Reservoir, I’ve been,” right? So that takes me in my little Volvo all around the state again. And I’ll be honest, like some people didn’t want me to be Ag chair, but you know who wanted me to be ag chair was the Ag Committee because of that. And that’s how I got to be Ag chair. It’s another story how I got un-Ag chaired, but that’s a more fun one. But, so those sorts of ideas and attitudes, and then, of course, you rely on your team to also do that. And I think it generally goes well.

Audience Member: Okay.

Troy Bauder: Thank you for presentation. Troy Bauder. I might’ve missed it, but I didn’t see the transfer of water from urban to ag on your top list of challenges in the West.

Jeni Arndt: Yeah.

Troy Bauder: And I’m just curious, as an agriculturalist, why that didn’t make the list.

Jeni Arndt: Oh, ’cause there’s so many things that didn’t make the list. But that is a challenge. I did do. It was, well, I, that is a very not true statement. There was a bill called the Ag Water, I think it ended up the Ag Water Protection Act. And that was the first new water right in Colorado in years. And that was a bill that had been tried and failed several times. And when you get in and you listen harder and you work more, right, and you expand the scope of stakeholders, right, it passed. I think it’s passed in ’16. You can get a new water right that allows for flexibility in the ag world that will serve so that they don’t have to sell their water, right? I still don’t know if that’s been used. No, it hasn’t. It’s never been used, right? But those are examples of paying attention to that very real problem with some creative solutions. Yeah. There is some systemic things behind that that are hard to swim uphill against, right?

AJ Brown: Hi, thank you for that presentation. AJ Brown with the Ag Water Quality program here-

Jeni Arndt: Oh.

AJ Brown: At CSU. So, kind of following up, one of the things that you said stuck out to me, which was if we make a decision without somebody whose opinion differs from yours, it’s not the best decision for Colorado. Well, I’m a scientist, and my question to you, following up on that, is how do you handle a situation where the majority opinion is different from what the science is saying? Because I know you said you’re getting away from advocacy, but one of the things that us scientists have depended on the Water Center in the past is the advocating for the science because we’re easily outnumbered.

Jeni Arndt: Oh, that’s a different role of advocacy.

AJ Brown: Okay.

Jeni Arndt: So I said it’s rooted in unwavering attention to science. Advocating for science is different than saying, “Oh, we’re gonna advocate that every municipality for now on is going to use water smart devices,” right? That’s different. Leading with unwavering attention to science and advocacy and relying on science is a bedrock foundation of what the Water Center should do. That’s how you get trusted.

AJ Brown: All right, so then how would you navigate that situation if what we’re bringing to the table as water experts is different than what the state is wanting? Like, because we’re easily outnumbered by the urban community, for example, in agriculture.

Jeni Arndt: And you mean by the state. By voting, right? Is wanting, do you mean-

AJ Brown: The state wants one.

Jeni Arndt: The state legislature? Or do you mean our regulatory system?

AJ Brown: I mean, in general, when, well, it’s just the effect of how the sheer number of humans in an urban population outnumbers. So when you bring something to vote that might be water-related or you’re trying to lobby for something, right, it just gets drowned out by a community that may not be as educated in the realm as the experts coming to the table talking about something.

Jeni Arndt: Correct. Now, I would say the Water Center, as I know it, has been a member, a very strong member, of the Colorado Water Congress. Through that, like Reagan was president of that, their voice is heard, and the Water Congress has lobbyists that do that at the Capitol. I think that would be a very, that seems like a very appropriate place for the Water Center to take a policy stance. I would not advocate that we would hire our own lobbyists, right? That is a very slippery slope and that is not a fundamental purpose of what the university should be about.

AJ Brown: Thank you.

Jeni Arndt: But it does have a voice through the Water Congress. Yeah.

Jennifer Gimbel: Okay, we have a question online. This one is, “In view of the changes in federal funding policies, what would you envision to sustain funding for the Water Center?”

Jeni Arndt:  Right. Some of that’s that hustle, some of that’s that optimism, and some of it’s just that energy that you bring, the relationships, right? I honestly had someone come up to me this week and say, “Jeni, if you get the water job, let me know. I got some money.” Right? I mean, I do know a lot of people. I don’t know more people than a lot of people in the room, but there are people who will want to fund science-based Water Center that’s good for CSU, that’s good for the state, and good for our region. I’m absolutely convinced of it. Yeah. And it may not come from traditional sources.

Jennifer Gimbel: Okay, so the other online question. “What should the Water Center do to support cross-disciplinary water undergraduate education that engages students in addition to the majors focused on specific topics?”

Jeni Arndt: Perfect. Great. So I’ve been thinking about that because I do have background in curriculum design and higher ed and all that stuff. So I saw, I looked up, your SWIM program is neat. The minor, it’s 21 credits. That’s great. But what about the person who wants to be a soc major and a poli sci minor, and is like, “I can’t do another minor,” right? So I’ve been thinking, and I’m not sure if it’s appropriate, but sometimes this sort of nine-credit certificates, right? Sort of. So you take the water policy class, and then you take the sustainability class, and then you have the seminar that is tailored for your department, right? And you can do that as an in-person module for the students here or you can do it as an online module, in terms of the OSHA or anything else. The Water Literate Leaders program has been so successful, and I know people who just fight to get into that. And they’re not coming out water experts, but they’re coming out with enough knowledge about water that they know it’s important and they know who to ask for when they have a question. And I think that you could do that with the undergrads, right? If you wanna reestablish Colorado State University as one of the, it should be one of the world’s leaders in water, I think we’re gonna socialize that water knowledge as broadly as possible. Yeah. And we have all the tools to do it.

Braxton Dietz: Hi, thank you for your presentation. Braxton Dietz, student body vice president. Almost gave myself a promotion there. So Attorney General Weiser recently appeared on President Parsons’ “Next 150” podcast, another great expert in the field of water. And he was talking about one of his concerns for the future of Colorado and the future of water in Colorado is that as this topic has become more divisive in our state, factions and folks in the state have started to turn against each other and work combatively against each other for these resources and for these solutions, instead of collaboratively. And kind of the keys to success for the future of Colorado with water is to work collaboratively. So as the director of the Water Center, how would you promote collaborative engagement across Colorado?

Jeni Arndt: Thank you for that question. I’m gonna look to some people ’cause I don’t know if it’s gotten worse. I mean, I know water’s been, you know, a long-time contentious issue in Colorado. So I don’t have a gauge on whether it’s better or worse. It certainly will always be contentious because it is the distribution of a scarce resource, right? That’s gonna be contentious, right? The Water Center should be, hopefully, from every viewpoint, seen as the place people could come to have those hard conversations. I mean, that’s a really great role, right? Again, backed by science. And people need to know that there’s not a partisan bone in our body and it’s just, this is the place where you can come. And I think once you establish that, people know that, right? It doesn’t mean there’s not gonna be disagreements. And to your point, they can slug that out with a vote somewhere else. But this should be, the Water Center should be the place where people feel comfortable coming and expressing all their, you know, and not shying back from, you know, some tough conversations. That’s okay. I mean, people have ’em all the time. It’s reasonable, right? And then you grow that through this socialization of water knowledge, right? So something like that. Yeah.

Jennifer Gimbel: Other questions? Thank you, Jeni, for. Oh. Okay, thank you, Jeni, for that great presentation. You outlined a really nice vision for the Water Center and some ambitious goals. And I’m just wondering what are some of the first things you might do to get started to creating kind of the culture of collaboration and action that you’ve outlined in your vision?

Jeni Arndt: Oh, okay. I think, you know, you start in the core and you work out. So I think first, you sit with the Water Center staff collectively and see, you know, you build a team, right? You build those sorts of things. Establish relationships. What’s your job? You know, it’s under the what do I need to learn category, right? And then from there, it’s concentric circles out, right? I know the One Water Institute a little bit through you and others, and it’s just phenomenal, right, and the work you do at Hydro. How can the Water Center help you be better at your job and what you need? And what do you need, right? So then I think it’s working with, right here at home, what you have, right? I was giving this analogy, I was somewhere else this morning. Like, if you started outside, it’ll cave in, right? If you think of it like that. If you start here and you build out, and then I think that would take. And the other challenge is, ’cause you mentioned another challenge that I had mentioned, is the prioritization of your time, right? And that’ll be the leader’s challenge ’cause there is so much to be done. But a lot of times, I see leadership as the person who goes to where the biggest problems are, and that’s your job. When you find out what’s going well, that’s great, keep going. You know? Right? When you find out what’s not going well, that’s where you go and you put your time and attention on that. So something like that. And a lot of it would just be finding out what’s needed. I mean, I was extensively on the website, and I would say that probably needs a little help. So from that, I didn’t get a huge holistic view, and I would really have a lot of questions around what needs to happen. Who’s who, what are we doing? What do they want, right? Who’s engaged in what? Yeah. I will say, when I was a legislator, I did contact someone in ag econ quite a few times to come down and just don’t tell us if you’re for this bill or against this bill. I just need to know if this bill came to fruition, what would be the impacts? And that was invaluable, right? That sort of knowledge. If the Water Center could be looked at by policymakers for that sort of information, wouldn’t that probably help? Because right now, I will say they’re not looking to, they’re not even looking at Water Congress anymore. So we gotta reestablish that.

Jennifer Gimbel: Other questions?

Jeni Arndt: This is gonna be a hard one, I know.

Eric Wilkinson: I’m on your advisory board. Or the advisory board. Let’s put it this way. Not yours yet.

Jeni Arndt: You always have been.

Eric Wilkinson: My question is, sometimes the water professionals, if you wanna call ’em that, they’re the actual practitioners that are putting the resource to work, whether it be municipal or ag, sometimes look at the center as being academia. And I think one of the biggest challenges that the center has is to get that practitioner, academia nexus to a practical situation.

Jeni Arndt: Correct. Sorry.

Eric Wilkinson: Science is, and being an engineer-

Jeni Arndt: I’ll leave it.

Eric Wilkinson: Science rules. But at the same time, you can engineer a water project, but part of the engineering in the water project is the human engineering is part of it.

Jeni Arndt: That’s the hard part.

Eric Wilkinson: Human engineering is much harder than the actual engineering itself. I think one of your biggest challenges is building that bridge between the practitioner and the, or the outstanding resources that you have at CSU and within the center. And I’m looking right at Perry and his work. It’s very practical. It’s on the ground. It’s not theoretical. And that’s what really sells things in the water community. The water community needs things that are practical, that are implementable, on extraordinary challenges that we’re facing. How are you gonna build that bridge and how are you gonna get that communication line reestablished? At one time, I was under the impression, justifiably, so I think, that the communication line between the center and the practitioners was excellent.

Jeni Arndt: It was excellent.

Eric Wilkinson: That has, in my opinion, deteriorated a little bit. But I think it needs to be revitalized. And I just wanna know how you’re going to do it. Extraordinary resources available from the center. And it’s, I think, a matter of communication and relationship. Just, could you give us some insight on that?

Jeni Arndt: I thought you just answered. You said. No, no, I appreciate that. I was flipping through the slides because when I said a wide variety of stakeholders, I mean, I didn’t use a lotta words on my slide, but each one of them, I chose really carefully. And when I talked about scope, that’s what I’m talking about, right? But Perry is my escort today, so we were walking over here, I was like, “So how would the center get more of you?” Went out and said, or like. Right? And, Eric, you’re dead right because it is that scope that the center is a huge advantage, can actually engage if we get to a place where we have reestablished some of that trust. I mean, when I thought about applying for the job, I made a lot of phone calls across the state. And I don’t mean Denver. I mean Yuma and West Slope and San Luis Valley and all around. “Where do you think the center is now? What do you need? Do you think I should apply?” And I got everything from, “Oh, God, no, don’t go to waste your time in the basement of engineering.” Really, someone told me that. I was like, “Yeah, the office isn’t that great, but, whatever.” To, “We absolutely need the center to fill this function in Colorado,” right? This wide range. So you do get a bigger perspective on what the rest of the state is saying that they want the center to function as. Honestly, Eric, it said 40% travel with the job. That’s in the job description. I assume half of that’s me just driving around the state, really, honestly, going out and talking to people ’cause there’s no substitute for that, right? Again, after the work of like what’s right here. I mean, do you just walk over to the engineering building and say, like, “Hey, what do you guys need? What are we missing?” How can,” you know? After that, it’s gonna be those sorts of behaviors and attitudes, I think. And it won’t just be the director of the center ’cause you can’t do it yourself. It’ll be engaging a wide network of people in the OE and and beyond, right, because everyone gets to be part of the Water Center, right? Those sorts of things. I can’t think of a… Remember when I came down and visited you and Brian when I was running? I just called you and I said, “I need to go down and see what Northern’s doing.” Everybody’s like, “Oh, God, Northern’s the devil. They’re evil, they’re hateful. You can’t do that. You can’t do that. Oh, if you’re the state rep from here, you know, you gotta block this. This is what you gotta do.” And I was like, “Nah, I think what I gotta do is call ’em and drive down there.” And that started a really good relationship, I thought. You were a little surprised. He and Brian were like, “What?”

Eric Wilkinson: I think you were a little surprised, too.

Jeni Arndt: I know. And it was great. I was surprised you said yes because that trust had been broken. You had no reason to trust the new person that you didn’t know. And you gave me a meeting, honestly, and some people wouldn’t, right?

Eric Wilkinson: I’d never deny you a meeting.

Jeni Arndt: I know, because you’re that person, right? But some people will, right? But then they say, “Oh, but so-and-so met with ’em.” It’s like, “Well, maybe I,” you know?” Those are the ways you break down those barriers and reestablish them.

Eric Wilkinson: And you would be willing to do that?

Jeni Arndt: Well, yeah, that’s my job. We did just, that City Council drop our formal opposition to . That wasn’t easy, my friend. You knew that, we took that resolution, didn’t you? Yeah, that wasn’t easy. I texted Brad Wynn, “Piece of cake. ” It was years in the making. But these things, see, that’s the thing I’m talking about, is I’m like, “You guys, why do you fight so hard when we can collaborate? These are people trying to deliver safe, clean, drinking water to people we care about.” I don’t get it, right? So the little bit of irony is that Fort Collins wants its . So I was like, “I’m gonna point that out 10 times outta 10.” And that’s not wrong. Then let’s just think about how we do this together. So I just think it’s sort of that time and attention and attitude. And then there’s no substitution to… I mean, Deb’s on the advisory board, too. I spent a whole day in the Republican River District with her. It was really fun. I just drove over there, stayed in some little hotel, and I said, “Tell me more.” Learn more, you know? And then she’s like, “Oh.” And then we did that bill to redo their boundaries, right? I don’t know. I think those sorts of relationships and attitudes are why I would love to have the trust of people to ask, to help the Water Center sorta replicate that and bring it. And then we rely on lots of good partners. Every one of you. You’re in. He’s like, “I’m in IT. No, I’m not.” Oh, yeah, you.

Jennifer Gimbel: Any other questions?

Nick: Good morning, Dr. Arndt.

Jeni Arndt: Oh, yes, President.

Nick: Yeah, if you were paying attention 20 minutes ago, I got demoted, but I’m back on top now. Last semester, I took an agricultural law class, and I enjoyed it so much that I decided to take a water law class this semester. And one of the things that really intrigued me was the concept of these buy and dry schemes of when, to meet the needs of a growing population on the front range, water will be sold and taken from agricultural communities that devastate them. And we have, in this state, within the last decade, a lot of transplants from other states. God bless ’em. We’re glad they’re here. What role do you think the Water Center can serve in informing that new population of how we do water in Colorado and how we protect our farmers and ranchers in the ag industry?

Jeni Arndt: Yeah. It is all the things that you just said. So what you’re asking about is the education piece. So it kinda goes back to the, you know, I mean, you probably didn’t have time to do a water minor, I’m guessing, a 21 credit, but would you have had time to do a certification, a three credit?

Nick: This is true.

Jeni Arndt: Okay. Something like that. So that’s one thing. I was talking to… It was on the screen. So the screen, it’s hard. Is it Eric, was I talking to, who said extension in Gunnison?

Eric: Eric

Jeni Arndt: It’s Eric. Yeah, thank you. So he was saying that he would love to have his extension agents across the state tap into more expertise from CSU to train the trainer model for his extension agency. He said they still have some extension agents who aren’t completely conversant in some water. So, you know, some things like that. So there’s just so much work to be done. Everything from undergraduates, to community policymakers, who the Water Literate Leaders touches, to even the training the trainer model of extension, right? So, again, this idea of water is so pervasive that we need to socialize in it, you know, provide educational opportunities across the state, right? And you’re right. We had this at Fort Collins, that a director of utility came from the East Coast. And he said, he says, “Oh, well, Platte River Power Authority doesn’t need that when they shut down the coal plant. I don’t know what I’m gonna do with all that water.” I go, “That is not your water.” And he goes, “Yeah, it is. It goes through our wastewater treatment plant.” I go, “No, that’s not Fort Collins’ water.” I could not get this man to understand that is not our water, right? So, fundamental, and he was not willing to learn. He is no longer with us because he just couldn’t get his… He does electric utility and he was the water, but a lot of times, there’s an intersection, right? So one of these flexible and adaptable things is we need to re-partner with people or find new linkages, right, with wildfire mitigation, with power. I think a lot about water and power, right? Platte River Power Authority is a big purchase, a big participant in Chimney Hollow, right? So we need a water and fuels expert at PRPA. We also, you know, we need to make all these linkages like that, right? It’s a long-

Jennifer Gimbel: Other questions? Perry, do you have?

Perry:  We have time. I do. I’m in charge of getting her to her next location, so I think we’re okay. And I wanted to make sure the audience could ask as well. I will say the good news is we have people like me and AJ. I always compliment him and his work. And Troy and his directorship of the Colorado Water Quality Program did a tremendous job and in a very focused area. And so with that being said, and just sorta how you be everywhere at once, I wanted to ask you how you would ponder this issue. Is that we all know now that AI-powered tools drive information delivery at a speed that is incomprehensible at this point. And it seems like it happened overnight. In the idea of sort of collaborating with the faculty and the fact that journal page charges cost $3,000 now to publish, we have a difficult time generating information, adhering to our brand, doing all the things that you say, you know, you’ve highlighted. What does the Water Center do to alleviate this issue? How do people consume information and get our information in a way that values our brand and sort of, you know, competes with this, you know, irrepressible issue that we have now?

Jeni Arndt: You know, Perry, if I could answer that, I think I’d probably be opening a consulting business. I’d make a million. I don’t have a good answer for that. This is a struggle, right? I mean, we had the State of the City on Monday night. “The Coloradoan” didn’t even come. It’s not in the newspaper. I mean, I’m sure it’s just another. You know, I mean, sorry about football practice or the wolf, right? That’s their algorithm is telling them that’s what people read, right? It is a struggle to get factual information out. They talk about the attention economy, right? That it’s all about your attention now. And when you can grab someone’s attention, well, there are people who make money off that. We would not be making money off that. We would be to inform. I don’t know. I wish I did. You know, I think by being trusted, you know, by starting here at home, we have 35,000 students here who could, who do, I think, I’m sure, trust us, trust the university to provide excellent information. That’s just all I know. It’s a struggle. I mean, I know at the city, we had these big land-use fights. I mean, the misinformation was unbelievable. I mean, just flat-out wrong. And I kept saying to the city, “Are you ever gonna do anything to counteract that?” Or how about, you know, I kept saying, “Why don’t we just have more public fora?” That sometimes you have to open up and be less cautious, right? Where you just put the council down, it’s not a council meeting, and we just do Q and A. And that made ’em nervous ’cause it was not controlled. But that is also what the people want, right? So they want an authentic, honest, and probably less controlled venue to find out that information. And I can see why institutions are skittish, because this always comes back to get ya. But we’re gonna have to think differently about some communication, yeah. That’s not a satisfying answer, but it’s something we have to work on. I don’t know. Yeah?

Audience Member: Yeah, well, “The Coloradoan” may not have been at the State of the City, but CSU was there in spades. I noticed Amy Parsons was there, the provost was there, all of the brass was there. I was there.

Jeni Arndt: Thank you.

Audience Member: I went back and I reported to my class about it. So, I mean, maybe the news doesn’t get through “The Coloradoan” anymore. It’s all these other channels.

Jeni Arndt: That’s an excellent point. And I did call them and thank them for showing up.

Audience Member: Okay. My question is, kinda going back to a little bit of what Perry was talking about, and others, too, getting the word out there. And many years ago, Dick Bratton started the Western Water Workshop over in Fort Lewis, over there, Western State. And I think that was when I was director of the Water Center. I didn’t like that because I felt like we should have been doing that. But he was very successful at that. Well, I mean, he’s just, his funeral, you know, is going on right now, practically, at the Water Congress. So it been a long time. But that was a very popular thing. You’d go over there and there’d be farmers and city people and water districts and county commissioners and all that. That was a good thing. Now we have the Spur center, you know, and it’s a whole new, different thing. And I’m wondering, with today’s technology, whether it’s AI or whatever, is there some way that we could use these resources to communicate better and start knocking down some of that disinformation?

Jeni Arndt: Yeah, that’d be, I mean, part of the job description also said establish the Western Water Policy Center at the Spur, Hydro. And I was like, hmm. Probably in terms of prioritizing, that wouldn’t be first, but that certainly is a neat vision that people have, right? Why not? So when I was president of my professional association of Council of States Government West, they had a Columbia River Forum. I go, “Why don’t you have a Colorado River Forum? I mean, this is crazy.” And we started that. So that’s been extremely successful, bringing in legislators across the West for a three-day workshop on the Colorado River Forum. Absolutely. And the more you can go out to where they are, it’s nice to use the Spur and Hydro, would be fantastic to have that be a Western center. But what you’re saying was so successful was actually having it off the front range and out where people are. And that’s part, attending to what you were talking about, Eric, like the only voice that should be heard is not just… You know, we have science and theoreticians, and we need them. We also need the practitioners and the implementers, right? And they have to come together. I’m so glad you said that the engineering’s one part and the social. I fight with my husband all about this. He’s an economist. He goes, “No, it’s really the numbers and all this that’s the hard part.” And I go, “Yeah, honey, why didn’t this happen?” “Well, because the people or the.” Aha. It comes down to the social things that we do to ourselves, where we need, and that’s why I was thinking about this administrative and regulatory barriers. So, and I always wanted to implement the Water Plan chapter nine on the streamlining permitting thing. I’ll just throw that in.

Jennifer Gimbel: So let’s thank Jeni for her presentation and your questions. One thing I wanted to remind everybody here and online is that we have asked for your input on a form. Tell us what you think. And that will all get collected and will go to the search committee and to Dr. Pritchett once we have ’em all collected. So, Jeni, thank you so much. Very interesting hour.

Jeni Arndt: Thank you for coming. I really appreciate your time.