In this episode of 21st Century Water, we sit down with Andrea Cole, General Manager of Dominion Water & Sanitation District in Colorado. With a background in engineering and law, Andrea brings a multidimensional perspective to leading water, wastewater, and stormwater efforts in the fast-growing Sterling Ranch community. We begin by exploring her journey from a small town in Wyoming, where an early appreciation for natural resources sparked her passion for water. Her unique blend of technical knowledge and legal expertise has positioned her to address the regulatory, financial, and political challenges that utilities face today.
We dive into Sterling Ranch’s model of sustainability, where renewable water is foundational—not an afterthought. Dominion, under Andrea's leadership, has helped position the community as a leader in water efficiency, achieving usage rates as low as 0.17 acre-feet per home annually. This mindset-first approach has shaped a culture where residents inherently value water as a finite resource. With only 10% of the community built out so far, Sterling Ranch is on track to grow to nearly 60,000 residents, with infrastructure in place to support long-term sustainability.
We also look at Douglas County’s broader vision for growth, where Dominion plays a central role in establishing renewable water systems to support future economic development. A key highlight is the $34 million regional wastewater treatment plant set to break ground, which will treat reusable water and enable indirect potable reuse. This project also connects a nearby disadvantaged community to modern infrastructure and safe water, correcting long-standing issues with non-renewable, contaminated sources.
Andrea emphasizes the importance of soft skills in leadership—stakeholder engagement, regulatory navigation, and political awareness—as often more critical than the technical engineering work itself. Her legal training enables her to view regulatory frameworks not as barriers but as tools for innovative problem-solving. We also discuss Dominion’s forward-thinking investment strategy, totaling over $70 million across wastewater, pump stations, and water pipeline projects in the coming years.
Despite being a small and growing utility with only 11 employees, Dominion is leveraging its flexibility to adopt modern technology like GIS to enhance planning and operations. Workforce development is another key theme, with Andrea focusing on hiring people who thrive in dynamic environments and want to help shape the district’s future. She closes by expressing her vision for a legacy rooted in sustainability—a future where our great-grandchildren can enjoy water and nature just as we have.
Links:
Dominion Water & Sanitation District: https://www.dominionwsd.org
Sterling Ranch Community: https://www.sterlingranchcolorado.com
Douglas County Government: https://www.douglas.co.us
American Rescue Plan Act: https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/coronavirus/assistance-for-state-local-and-tribal-governments/state-and-local-fiscal-recovery-funds
21st Century Water - Andrea Cole
Speakers: Mahesh Lunani & Andrea Cole
[Music Playing]
Voiceover (00:02):
Tremendous challenges and opportunities exist right now for our nation's water infrastructure. In this podcast, the industry's top leaders and innovative minds share their knowledge and insights for ensuring our water systems are operating safely and efficiently.
These discussions are designed to motivate and create vibrant 21st century water systems and the innovative workforce required to lead and operate them. This is 21st Century Water with your host, Aquasight founder and CEO, Mahesh Lunani.
Mahesh Lunani (00:34):
Good morning, good afternoon, good evening. In today's episode of the 21st Century Water Podcast, we are joined by Andrea Cole, General Manager of Dominion Water & Sanitation District. Andrea leads, not just water, but wastewater and stormwater efforts for Sterling Ranch, Colorado's first community to integrate fully renewable water from the start.
With over 22 years of experience in engineering law and leadership, she's driving a very unique regional vision in Douglas County. Today, I want to explore her leadership journey, her innovative approach, and how she's setting up long-term water resiliency in the state of Colorado. Welcome, Andrea.
Andrea Cole (01:18):
Thank you so much. I'm very pleased to be here and part of this.
Mahesh Lunani (01:22):
Well, excited. I'm going to go right into it. Engineering and law, that's a unique combination and now, you’ve got leadership on top of that. What are the pivotal moments in your career that has shaped and made you who you are in terms of leadership in the water sector?
Andrea Cole (01:39):
Yeah, no, thank you, I appreciate that question. Really, when I look back on my life, if you will, and my career, it all starts with how I grew up. I was born and raised in a small town in Wyoming, and being a part of nature and being a part of water was really foundational for what we did.
So, as a family, we spent a lot of time outside and we talked about how important those resources were, the water resources that feed everything in the community from our food supply to recreational, camping, fishing, those types of things. My father instilled in me this desire to reach for the stars, if you will, to do more and to really take that to the next level. That was my foundation, if you will.
And that was somewhere simmering in me (laughs) throughout my career as I went through school, and graduated with an engineering degree and started my career in water. I always knew that water was something that I wanted to do, and I thought that starting at the engineering level was the place to be.
I found while I was working on phenomenal projects, restoring dams being removed, creating recreational kayak courses, I was just a small cog, if you will, in the bigger picture.
And for me, that was still not quite checking that box and that desire to want to lead and to do more with what my background and really what my goals were. I decided to go to law school and see if that was the next piece that I could buckle on and really bring that goal and drive to have a sustainable future for all to fruition.
And so, after law school, I was able to help more on program management owners’ advisory services, so for very large programs across the country. And that was eye-opening from a standpoint of the challenges that utilities are faced with in this country to bring water supplies forward for their residents, for their communities, and some of the difficulties that they have doing that from a regulatory standpoint, political standpoint, financing standpoint, that's a big one that we're all facing nowadays.
And with that background, really bringing this into the utility leadership and being the general manager here at Dominion Water & Sanitation District, I'm able to bring all those pieces together, I'm able to have that foresight and that thought process, and then drive that vision forward, which has really been exciting.
Mahesh Lunani (04:23):
It sounds like you were inspired in your childhood, and then from there on, you made a series of organized moves through your education, through your project experiences leading up to what you are. Not many people can actually have that level of organized planning career.
Andrea Cole (04:41):
It didn't seem so organized (laughs). I was in the process.
Mahesh Lunani (04:45):
Yeah, that's true, that's true. So, I want to ask: the Sterling Ranch when I was researching, it's a unique master plant community. Tell us more about it and what's Dominion's role in evolving it?
Andrea Cole (04:57):
So, I am so thankful for the true partners that we have at Sterling Ranch. So, Sterling Ranch really set the stage for renewable water and really tied into my upbringing. So, their goal for that master plan community is to build more than just houses. Their goal is to build a sense of community, a sense of family, a sense of home. A house and home are two different things.
And really, when they started the development and started to think through how – how are you going to build a sense of home, how are you going to drive that, they looked at two key foundational pieces, one being safety. Obviously, we have to feel safe in order to call somewhere home.
And what feeds into that safety is water and reliability and sustainability, especially here in the West, and in the community where Sterling Ranch is in Douglas County in Colorado, there is not easy access to renewable water supplies.
Most of the communities in Douglas County were developed off of non-renewable groundwater supplies. And they knew that groundwater, you essentially mined the groundwater out and that's not something sustainable for those future generations. And so, as they looked at that, they looked to bring on those renewable supplies.
And then the next step to that was how do you change people's thought process on water? And a lot of utilities think about this, they talk about it from a standpoint of changing your relationship with water, but really, what Sterling Ranch and Dominion has done is not change that relationship, they started as a foundation.
So, foundationally, people who buy homes and move to the Sterling Ranch community know how important water is. They know that it's a finite resource. And because of that mentality and because of a lot of the other technologies that we've implemented within the community, we are leading the state and quite honestly, I personally feel the country, but certainly the West in sustainability and water efficiencies.
So, we're down to less than 0.2-acre feet a year per single family equivalent, we're hovering around 0.17 to 0.18, and that continues to stay as the trend. We're not seeing any swings on that, which really allows us and demonstrates the ability that Dominion and Sterling Ranch have been able to do to have that true understanding of the value of water.
Mahesh Lunani (07:36):
How big is this community, Sterling Ranch? How many residents are we talking about?
Andrea Cole (07:41):
So, Sterling Ranch is growing, so they're about 10% built out. They have 3,400 acres, there's about 3,000 homes there, so about 6,000 residents today.
They have enough residents now where they're starting to add other things. Schools, libraries, also community centers, more recreational facilities. And they're planned or projected to have around 12,000 to 16,000 homes. So, that is somewhere around 60,000 residents at full build out.
Mahesh Lunani (08:13):
So, it could be a self-sustainable community in very near term. So, I want to talk about Douglas County, it continues to grow rapidly. What role is your department playing in that growth, and how are you making things sustainable?
Andrea Cole (08:29):
Yeah, so Dominion, we were created in 2004, and we were created as part of Douglas County's vision to have renewable water supplies as it continues to grow. They recognized as a county that they did not have the ability to have renewable water, that growth would be stymied, that economic development would no longer be a place in Douglas County.
Douglas County really thrived early on the small type ranchettes, if you will, with their individual wells and septic tanks. So, very individual type dwellings that were built in Douglas County. They realized quickly that they needed to do more, they needed stronger water supplies, and they needed regional wastewater support.
And so, really as we've worked collaboratively with Sterling Ranch, but also Douglas County, we've been able to continue to bring those renewable supplies on and really what I call living the One Water, a lot of communities talk about One Water and how they're advancing it, Dominion truly lives One Water.
Mahesh Lunani (09:40):
Excellent, excellent. So, that leads to my next question. You have a regional solution on a wastewater treatment plan. How are you going about doing it, and how is this vision getting realized?
Andrea Cole (09:54):
That's a great question. We're really excited about our wastewater plant. So, we'll be breaking ground here within the next few months on a regional wastewater treatment facility in Northwest Douglas County. And the goal of that facility is to treat our reusable and renewable water supplies such that we can bring those back into our system.
So, we'll be collecting those downstream. So, it's indirect potable, reuse – bringing that water back into our system for treatment at our state-of-the-art water treatment plant, and then delivery to our retail customers.
As part of that regional facility, we're also connecting a disadvantaged community that is within our service area that's reliant on outdated wastewater technology, if you will, a sewer lagoon that is just not affected. And so, we'll be able to connect those 124 homes into this regional system, which is something that would be unattainable for a community that size to do on their own.
And not only are we helping that community, but then with the backbone infrastructure in place along the Santa Fe corridor in Douglas County, then future developments or future growth, future businesses and commercial industries can connect in, and they're not going to be building septic tanks and creating more of a challenge as we move forward.
Mahesh Lunani (11:17):
It just sounds like it's like a part of the country that has analog system in terms of cellular technology, and you directly move them to 5G.
Andrea Cole (11:25):
Right, yeah.
Mahesh Lunani (11:26):
It’s evolving them to 2G and 3G and to 4G – no they go straight to 5G and that just sounds like that's the way it's going to happen.
Now, just stepping aside a little bit, you had a background in advancing or navigating complex water supply and storage projects across the country. How are you bringing that experience and knowledge to what you're trying to guide your work at Dominion?
Andrea Cole (11:53):
As I look back at those projects and those programs that I was involved in, one of the key things I learned that was so critical and so important were all those soft skills. As an engineer, we often think that's the most challenging and difficult part of a project, but really (and a lot of engineers don't like it when I say this), the engineering part is easy.
Two plus two is always four (laughs), there's always an answer, there's always a solution that you can come up with. It's really those soft skills that would kill a project. What are the regulations? What are your stakeholders saying or doing? What are the political outfall or outcomes for that? How are you going to get the financing for it? Those are the pieces that really drive the project.
And so, here at Dominion, I really focus on those soft skills. I focus on getting out there and talking to our stakeholders, our neighbors, the other utilities and special districts in the area, and meeting with them routinely as well as members of the county, really making sure that we're all on the same page as we're moving forward.
Mahesh Lunani (12:58):
Yeah, no, I couldn't agree more. I'm an engineer, but every day I learn how I can be better at soft skills in terms of what and how I lead, and it’s a continuous process. You are wired in a certain way as an engineer, even though you might have an MBA degree, but you still have to continuously evolve your leadership style.
This is a great forum for me to learn from you and many other guests, prior to this episode. You talk about engineering and then legal, so how is your legal combined with engineering expertise allowing you to balance between something regulatory, but also infrastructure and engineering? How do you bring that mix together? Because it is a skillset and talent you can help drive forward.
Andrea Cole (13:45):
So, as you talked about just earlier, it's interesting when you compare and contrast the two programs from even just an education standpoint. The engineering school teaches you how to think a very certain way. They teach you how to get very critical and think about all the details and how those are important to get projects completed. From a legal background, it starts to teach you how to think a little bit differently.
I remember as a first-year law student, one of the professors asked a question like, “How do you feel on a certain topic?” And everybody had strong opinions, it was black or white, there was no in-between. And then he asked the same question three years later, everybody's like, “Well, it depends (laughs).” It became gray. So, you start to see how important the in-between pieces are, not just the minute details.
And so, how you can weave those together helps you write better contracts that protect your district, protect your residents, helps you figure out how can you work within the regulatory framework that's already been established and set up. Are there ways that you could use that to your advantage and not something that's against you as you're trying to advance these projects?
Mahesh Lunani (15:02):
Yeah, no, it's very interesting because if you look at legal stuff, it's all about what if this happens, then how does contractually, you react. So, a lot of what ifs and protecting. So, it's a totally different part of the brain and thinking.
And if you combine those two, more deterministic skillset which is engineering to more probabilistic skillset, legal frameworks. I don't know because I don't have a law degree, but I can only imagine it's powerful to have, especially in the kind of industry that we are dealing with that has compliance and the laws.
Andrea Cole (15:41):
It can be interesting, yeah, and sometimes folks that I talk with, they're like, “Which Andrea am I talking to (laughs)? Am I talking to the attorney side or the engineering side? And how do we go from there?”
Mahesh Lunani (15:55):
You have a luxury to change your business card or tag. I'm a lawyer now, I'm an engineer now, that's right. But you talked a lot about reuse, renewable water, and how you’re totally not changing anything, but fundamentally, the foundation is different in your community. I want to extrapolate that because this is really critical.
You’re on the western part of the country that is a stressed part of the country when it comes to water resources, even though you are relatively small size, but at the core of it, you add a hundred dominion communities, you make up Las Vegas, a thousand, you make up Phoenix, a million, you make up Los Angeles.
What's your view? What's your guidance? How do you create super sustainable, self-sufficient water infrastructure on the western part of the country so we don't have to worry about the droughts and the peaks and the lows? What's your perspective on that?
Andrea Cole (16:49):
I think it's really a paradigm switch for folks. We need to start valuing water. We need to understand that water is a finite resource, even renewable water. There's only so much to go around, and how can we put that to the highest and most beneficial use as we move forward?
I really think a lot of communities in the West in particular, and I would argue across the country, need to start having a solid foundation and determine how they're going to reuse that water supply, instead of continuing to go out and acquiring more water rights, or continuing to take more water off the river or the oceans or the other sources that we see and recreate on and enjoy, we need to figure out how to use what we have first. That's a foundational principle that we do in almost everyday life.
But for some reason in water, because it rains and we see it everywhere, we tend to think as humans that it's going to be there forever. And to me, that's really the key. How can we start thinking about it and valuing water as a finite resource, and how can we start looking to really fully reuse that water so that we can protect that water resource for the future generations?
Mahesh Lunani (18:08):
In other words, you're talking about a more mindset change than infrastructure change. Yes, infrastructure may follow a little bit, but it's more the mindset. Whether it's the planners, the administrators, or even the residents and the communities, fair to say that's-
Andrea Cole (18:24):
Yeah, it starts with a mindset. To drive change, we have to have a vision, and that vision will only succeed by the amount of people that understand and want to advance that vision.
One person alone cannot change all the mindsets. You have to bring people along with you, and you have to have that strong foundation because to your point, when you actually get to the project and the implementation stage, these are things that are going to take decades to actually put into fruition.
And that type of challenge is hard if that visionary, if the vision only lies with one person, maybe at the top or maybe in between, and they leave, they retire, then there's nobody left to continue to advance that vision. So, yeah, in my opinion and what I have seen, it really is a mindset that needs to start first.
Mahesh Lunani (19:19):
And the movement – sounds like not one person, but it's an entire movement in a particular county or region or community.
Now, we cannot talk about water without talking about infrastructure investments. They’re intrinsically tied because water is not like air, it's everywhere, all you have to do is breathe. It's not like that.
You have to supply water and you have to take wastewater out of these homes. So, where are you making the investment in the next three to five years? Can you quantify the numbers and identify the areas where the money's flowing?
Andrea Cole (19:52):
Yeah. So, Dominion right now, we're in a key build stage, if you will. And so, we've done a lot of the planning and the collaboration, stakeholder engagement and outreach, and now we're building. So, we're going to be breaking ground like I mentioned previously on our regional wastewater facility. We're anticipating project costs of that to be about $34 million.
We did receive $20 million from Douglas County as part of the American Rescue Project Act funds, and that we'll be using to help advance that project, as well as some other funding sources that we were able to get from the state and our private developers, so that is helping us.
And then the next piece to that, because again, we're living One Water, is then the diversion structure, pump station and pipeline. So, now, we need to capture that water off of the river and in order to do that, we need to build the diversion structure, we need to build a fairly large pump station and then connect it into the water treatment plant. And so, that's about $24 million that we will be looking to build.
And then I also mentioned, as part of this facility, we're going to be connecting a local disadvantaged community. And so, as part of that, we'll be building a lift station and force main to connect into Sterling Ranch so that water then can flow to the wastewater treatment facility, and that's about, I would say about $8 million. We don't have a final price yet on that.
But then in addition, not only are we helping that community from a wastewater perspective, but we're also helping them from a renewable water supplies perspective. So, they currently rely on non-renewable groundwater, and that groundwater unfortunately has radionuclides in it. And so, those homeowners have not been allowed to drink their water for three years. They've had to have bottled water in their community.
And so, we're building a water line to connect them to our renewable water supplies, and that also is around that $7 to $8 million range for that pipeline.
Mahesh Lunani (21:55):
Well, I just added up the number, $72 million. You got a lot of checks to cut, huge responsibility. So, congratulations for the wastewater treatment, the pump station, the diversion structure, the lift stations, and the new water distribution network. A lot of build work, as you said, that's left in the next three to five years.
I want to talk about technology. Yes, you're a small community, but you probably also have limited staff. So, technology and the expertise built into the technology in a way is a supplement to you as a staff when in fact you don't have all the resources, human resource available. How do you view this space and what are you doing for operational decision-making and optimization?
Andrea Cole (22:41):
That's a really good question. While I mentioned that Dominion was formed in 2004, those early years were about planning in the house, and now we're into the building, how do we actually bring all of this forward?
And so, we are, as far as a district, not only are we small, there's now 11 of us. When I started, there was four (laughs). So, I've been able to double/over double the size of the district, but we're still in our adolescent stage, and so there's a lot of technology and platforms that we're looking to get implemented.
But the cool thing about it, about being at Dominion is that the world is our oyster. Like we have the ability to drive that and to drive those decisions. We're not trying to fit in with existing analog type already set up procedures, we get to create our own.
And so, we're really looking on how we can leverage GIS to help with planning, asset management, depreciation schedules, all those pieces. And so, that's something that I hope maybe in the future on a podcast, I could tell you more about (laughs) where we're going on the technology side.
Mahesh Lunani (23:54):
Absolutely. And right now, because you're building everything, that's your priority. I want to talk about workforce. Yes, you are in a growth mode, workforce is critical, you're building this infrastructure, somebody's got to run it, keep it, maintain it. What challenge are you running into locally and what's your views about it?
Andrea Cole (24:14):
Yeah, workforce, everybody's been struggling with trying to hire those right people. And so, I look at it a little differently. And again, because Dominion is in this unique space in Colorado and really, in water in the West.
And so, while we are looking for qualified candidates, if your resume checks the mark, to me, then the interview is more about your personality or how are you with change. Many people say that, “Oh yeah, I love change, I want to be part of that.” But the reality of the situation is when things are changing constantly, some people, they want more consistency.
And so, what we really thrive for and look for are those people that want to be part of and live that change with us, that want to think outside of the box. And so, it's more about how do we find and garner those folks that want to help be the foundation of something that's going to be quite cool here in Colorado and in water in the West.
Mahesh Lunani (25:21):
Inspiring them in ways beyond that they could … creating the best version of themselves eventually through this process and job.
Andrea Cole (25:29):
It's really about where do you see yourself and that that part of the where do you see yourself more from a vision standpoint, than a technical standpoint. And so, that's who we strive to add on to our staff here at Dominion.
Mahesh Lunani (25:44):
I wish in high schools they (would) teach more, not just about the hard skills, good work ethic skills. Skills that allow you to get inspired and things that you never thought about because that's what the world is moving.
Andrea Cole (25:57):
We want people to be excited about coming here. We want people to be excited about how they can shape Dominion's future, how they can help us be better. We're always thriving and striving to be better with everything that we do. And finding those people can be a little challenging, but once we find them, it's amazing.
Mahesh Lunani (26:15):
Yeah, absolutely, a good fit. So, that brings to my last question, it's always been my last question on podcast, and it dovetails to the answer you just gave.
We all, as leaders, think about legacy and the impact and what do we want to be known for. Not necessarily you want to be on the pedestal, but what do you want your legacy to be at the end of the day when it's all said and done?
Andrea Cole (26:40):
To me, I want my legacy to be about that future. I really want to have a sustainable future for future generations. Like my great grandkids, your great grandkids, should be able to experience water, should be able to experience nature the way that we've been privileged to. I want to see them go fishing, I want to see them spend time at a beach, I want all of that to be there.
And to me, how I can do that is my slice, my small slice of the pie that impacts water, driving those changes, driving those conversations, and hoping that we're instilling in others to emulate what we're doing here at Dominion and really helping them drive to change, and to change those mindsets to be more thought forward on water and our resources.
Mahesh Lunani (27:34):
It was very interesting for me, inspiring. You lived your childhood vision and got inspired by your parents and father, really went on to combine engineering and law degrees in a fascinating way. Within Dominion and the Douglas County, you have set the sustainable reuse as a mindset and the foundation so you don't have to change things. That's just the way the world lives.
And you are part of the community, you're cutting checks up to $74 million in the next several years. It's a growth mode and it's a growth story even though you're a small community. So, I'm really excited I had this conversation, I'm excited your story could be listened by thousands of folks who listen to the 21st Century Water Podcast. So, I want to thank you for being part of this session.
Andrea Cole (28:26):
No, thank you so much. It's been a pleasure and I'm so excited to get more information out there.
[Music Playing]
Voiceover (28:31):
Join host and Aquasight founder and CEO Mahesh Lunani for another episode of 21st Century Water, produced by JAG in Detroit Podcasts.