Provides stormwater training for design and maintenance of SCMs. Facilitated SCM Workshop in April 2024 bringing MS4 leaders from across the Front Range together to discuss successes, challenges. and lessons learned. Authored an associated white paper.

Served as technical support on an update to MHFD’s Urban Stormwater Design Manual Volume 3 Chapter 4 which details design for stormwater control measures and is a nationally recognized resource for stormwater design. Support included assisting with final chapter edits, development of the SCM Design spreadsheet, and training materials updates.

Provided support to Longmont’s MS4 program developing SCM owner factsheets and generating owner and technical SCM operation and maintenance templates to support better understanding of SCM maintenance needs and requirements.

Water quality technical expert for City of Greeley Water Quality Roadmap project to help the city scope a proactive master planning project that focuses on MS4 compliance and pollutants of concern for the city. Provides recommendations on programmatic water quality direction and decisions and will provide input to prioritization matrix that will be used as part of the future master planning project.

Served as the stormwater quality manager and engineer for the City of Boulder, Colorado for 8 years. She led a dynamic team of four water quality professionals in all aspects of stormwater quality compliance and study including MS4 compliance, GI planning and implementation and water quality monitoring and study, and aspects of drainageway management. In this role, Ms. Owen worked on a daily basis with partners across the organization and beyond to implement successful projects to advance stormwater program initiatives.

Scoped, initiated, and served as city project manager on this collaborative project which resulted in Boulder code updates that presented a progressive approach to meeting MS4 Permit regulatory requirements through GI design. The project brought city staff together as a stakeholder group from various departments including Utilities, Parks, Planning & Development, Transportation, Open Space, and Facilities to determine how to best incorporate GI into city and private projects. Ms. Owen designed and led this stakeholder process with consultant assistance. The project ultimately presented potential GI pilot projects and laid the groundwork for the City’s Green Infrastructure program.

Initiated, developed, and led an internal program to support urban steam health in Boulder through synergistic funding partnerships with other City departments. The program focuses on three main areas of water quality including GI projects, stream assessment work, and education and outreach. Funding is disseminated through an annual grant program that has both a monetary award and support from Stormwater Quality staff. In her lead role, Ms. Owen coordinated and led steering committee meetings, lunch and learns, and facilitated project selection meetings. To assist the program in understanding where needs exist within Boulder waterways, a larges stream study, the Boulder Urban Stream Condition Assessment was initiated.

Served as City project manager and technical lead. She led development of a systematic approach to identifying and addressing controllable sources of E. coli to Boulder Creek through prioritized sewershed management plan development and other special studies.

Led this internal project to dictate work planning and internal project prioritization of the City’s Stormwater Quality program. Outcomes of this work allow staff to understand priorities for the next five years. The plan also incorporates adaptive management to provide a method for projects to be initiated based on synergistic factors as the program progresses.

Served as principal investigator conducting all field work and analysis for a microbial source tracking study at City outfalls to better understand sources of fecal pollution. Results of the study fed into prioritization of storm sewersheds for the Boulder Creek E. coli TMDL Implementation Plan.

Served as a primary instructor for CDOT’s Transportation Erosion Control Supervisor (TECS) classes. 8-hour courses to educate SWMP administrators across Colorado on effective erosion prevention and sediment control practices on CDOT sites.

Served as project engineer and sampling task manager as part of research examining an innovative microbial risk tool (QMRA) for possible inclusion in revised EPA recreational waters bacteria criteria. She performed an extensive literature review to assess current data gaps, and additionally managed and coordinated multiple field crews in three separate regions of the U.S. while in the process of conducting time sensitive sampling and laboratory efforts related to the identification of pathogens and indicator bacteria in various stormwater discharge types. She also managed all acquired monitoring data and performed statistical analyses of data for various discharge types to determine general trends in the presence of pathogens and regulatory indicator bacteria.