About

Educated, Empowered, Solution-Oriented Colorado

The One World One Water Center strives to prepare an educated, empowered, solution-oriented Colorado citizenry to protect and preserve our precious water resources. MSU Denver fulfills the mission in three ways:

• Offer an interdisciplinary, hands-on Water Studies minor for students from diverse backgrounds and in any major;
• Provide co-curricular enrichment activities to the entire student population of the Auraria Campus, which includes MSU Denver, the University of Colorado – Denver, and the Community College of Denver;
• Enhance water stewardship on and beyond campus for the effective use of water resources.

The Water Studies Minor and Certificate programs provide students with skills necessary to become more knowledgeable of Colorado’s limited water resources, and how to preserve this most precious resource.

The One World One Water Sculpture

The “One World One Water” sculpture was created by Rik Sargent, commissioned by Valerie Gates and dedicated to MSU Denver on May 2, 2012. This bronze sculpture of a single drop of water was designed to promote water education and represents the weaving together of watersheds and ecosystems. The sculpture loves visitors and is located on the lawn in front of the Student Success Building.

Community Water Stewardship

We enhance water stewardship in the community by leading collaborative educational experiences such as:

Colorado Student Water Field Conference

This annual collaboration between the OWOW Center and the Ruth Powell Hutchins Water Center at Colorado Mesa University welcomes students from all Colorado universities and colleges to participate in a weekend exploration of water in Colorado from new perspectives with the help of area professionals.

K-12 Water Education

The Denver Metro Water Festival (DMWF) started in 2014 at MSU Denver, serving 800 sixth graders. Today nearly 1,400 students participate in the annual day-long event featuring hands-on and lecture-based lessons on water. DMWF is a collaboration with Denver Water and Suburban Providers of Denver Water.

Engagement with University Students

Clean River Design Challenge
The Greenway Foundation engages higher education students to develop designs for urban waterway trash removal devices. In 2018, the winners of the second year of the competition were OWOW Center Water Studies students. Their winning device will be manufactured and deployed in the Cherry Creek and will be monitored and maintained by MSU Denver faculty and Water Studies students.

Scholarships and Endowments

The OWOW Center is honored to provide the Humpback Chub Scholarship in memory of Ruth Podmore and Steve Arrowsmith. Additionally, the OWOW Center is the recipient of the Wesley and Ethel Temple Initiative, the Ed Krisor Endowment, and a MillerCoors Endowment to help fund and support undergraduate research projects in the areas of water stewardship, urban hydrology, stormwater runoff management, and other related water projects.