A child born today will be an adult by 2050, when the Colorado Water Plan is to be fully implemented.
“How old will you be in 2050?”
Since release of the Colorado Water Plan, we have been using this guiding question when teaching – with positive, eye-opening responses. This line of thinking also prodded water educators to contemplate how our work can better support the Colorado Water Plan.
In response, the Water Education Exemplars Project was created.
This new external evaluation system serves K-16 students and teachers, distinguishing the best educational resources for learning and teaching about Colorado’s water. The Water Education Exemplars Project applies research-based tools, called the Guidelines for Excellence in Environmental Education, in use since 1996. More than inventorying, exemplars address “key characteristics” of vetted and relevant content, instructional soundness, and engaging lesson delivery. Existing national rubrics capture empirical evidence; a state-specific supplemental factor we call the educational resource’s “Colorado-ness” details how a resource supports the Colorado Water Plan. Each review results in a data-based summary of a resource’s support of academics and water conservation.
For the first time, we have quality control for Colorado water education.
Much of the Water Education Exemplars work is being conducted by young people. A cadre of water-career-interested 16-24-year-olds have been recruited and trained. They are ground-truthing and guiding reviews. These young people are compensated, a best practice in youth development.
Similar evaluation services, if outsourced, would cost around $15,000 per program. Such a cost is beyond the budgets of nearly all providers of Colorado water education.
Colorado’s Water Plan states, “Education is the key.... Public education around water must be increased.” This project, within the Innovation and Engagement category of Partner Actions, uses the first of the Plan’s Tools for Action: Public Outreach and Education, creating a new support tool for curriculum decision-makers. Our work directly informs Agency Action 4.1 – “Creation of a capacity-building hub to provide accessible educational opportunities.” Agency Actions 4.2, 4.3, 4.6, and 5.7 are also assisted.
Basin roundtable education and outreach objectives are supported a swell, such as South Platte and Metro’s Goal 11 – “To broaden communications, outreach, and education programs.” Likewise, this work answers explicit calls to work with K-12 audiences in the Gunnison, Rio Grande, Southwest, and Yampa-White-Green basin implementation plans. PEPO (Public Education, Participation, and Outreach) coordinators’ and committees’ input is crucial, as are partnerships with the Colorado Water Center, Colorado Alliance for Environmental Education, and Water Education Colorado.
Project outputs and outcomes (2026-2030):
• Years 1-4 – 100 reviews, 35 youth reviewers
• Year 5 – Amplification, expansion, replication, improvement of exemplars
• Budgets of $125,000 per year
Delivered in Year Zero (2025):
• 15 Water Education Exemplars
• 9 Youth and Water Participants
• 5-year Project Plan
2025 Water Education Exemplars
Denver Metro Water Quality Assessment Tool
Water Education Resource Guide: Investigations and Expert Curriculum Support for Colorado's Water Reality
Water Around the World Module (as localized by EL Education)
Caring for Our Watersheds
H2O Outdoors
Excursions
Water Fellows Program
Hydro Building Interpretive Displays
HEART Force
RISE Challenge
Trout in the Classroom
South Platte River Advisory Youth Council
Where Water Flows Uphill
Water Quality Management Pathway
Water Education Exemplars Project in the news…
Donny Roush (Certified Master Environmental Educator), Colorado Watershed Assembly • donny@coloradowater.org • 303-870-4690 •
Donny Roush was a member of the Statewide Water Education Action Plan (2021) task force, has been a member of the Guidelines for Excellence in Environmental Education Trainers’ Bureau since 2006, and was on the national writing team for the latest revision of Environmental Education Program Guidelines (2022). He is the only Coloradan to do all three.
