What We Do

Great Western Institute is focused on influencing the development of appropriate public policy through a combination of education and legislative dialogue based on sound science, public need, and informed legislation. This occurs through our programs:

• We conduct and facilitate workshops and water policy discussions with our various broad-based partners across the state to identify concerns and shared interests and collect information regarding water user and public need.
• We train consultants and water providers how to prepare and implement more meaningful water conservation plans – which means plans that have verifiable and measurable results and are based on the costs and related benefits of implementable measures and programs.
• We support water education training for K-12 educators, including the development of curriculum and technology tools that can be used by educators to expand classroom content and student engagement.
• We engage in important water policy discussions with local, regional and state-based partners to support and improve water resources planning and management efforts.
• We support local water conservation planning and implementation efforts, assisting local communities in the pursuit of grants, and in the development of meaningful, verifiable water conservation programs. In addition, we conduct and train staff to perform SMART WATER audits for residential, commercial and institutional customers. We also conduct system wide audits of municipal water distribution systems in accordance with AWWA M-36 procedures and practices.

We have selectively focused our efforts in Colorado to best leverage our available relationships and resources.