Standing amid the fixtures, cabinets, beakers and testing equipment at Denver Water’s new water quality laboratory, Nicole Poncelet-Johnson pointed to the wheels under the lab tables. 

The tables weren’t stuck in one position, she noted. Instead, those small wheels allowed the tables to move. They could be rolled into different groupings and configurations as needed. 

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And those small, simple wheels were an example of the ingenuity of Denver Water’s new water quality lab, a lab intentionally designed with the ability to shift and meet the evolving needs of the people who work in the lab, Denver Water and the 1.5 million people across the city and surrounding suburbs who rely on it for a safe, clean water supply.

And Poncelet-Johnson’s attention to the wheels under the new lab’s tables sums up her approach at Denver Water, where she was head of the water quality and treatment division for more than six years, from December 2017 to September 2024. 

“She’s able to see the big picture, and to also see how the small things we do now can have a big impact on down the line. The work she did here at Denver Water made her section, and the whole organization, more nimble, collaborative and flexible. We will miss her,” said Tom Roode, Denver Water’s chief of operations and maintenance, which includes the water quality and treatment division. 

“We were lucky to have her as long as we did. And it’s great to have Denver Water veterans go on to be leaders in new areas,” he said. 

Listen to Nicole Poncelet-Johnson talk about the possibilities embedded in the decision to locate a new water quality lab at the National Western Center’s CSU Spur campus: 

Poncelet-Johnson, who has 30 years of experience working in utilities, construction and consulting, is moving from Denver Water to be the One Water Executive Director for the City of Fort Collins, leading the city’s three water-related utilities: water, wastewater and stormwater. She starts in Fort Collins on Sept. 30.

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Join a team that’s passionate about what they do, at denverwater.org/Careers.

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Poncelet-Johnson is credited with playing a major role in a wide range of initiatives that created lasting change at Denver Water and beyond. 

• She was the driving force behind Denver Water’s different approach to reducing the risk of lead in customer’s drinking water, an approach that led to the utility’s Lead Reduction Program and has been used as a national model for how to approach the issue of lead in drinking water.
• She reorganized Denver Water’s water quality and treatment division, removing barriers created by the division’s previous organization, which focused staffing and resources around individual treatment plants, to one that supported a broader focus on the utility’s north and south collection and treatment systems. The shift created more career and growth opportunities among the people who worked in the section and provided Denver Water with crucial flexibility for staffing the plants during the COVID-19 pandemic. 
• Her position in a traditionally male-dominated industry, coupled with her ability to build relationships, provided leadership and mentorship to the people in her division, across the utility and beyond Denver Water. 

“Our organization’s history is marked by people with long-term vision — the building of Cheesman Dam and Dillon Reservoir and other really big things. And she fits into that category. She knows there are a lot of little steps that lie between now and 30-50 years in the future, and she sees what has to be done,” said Russ Plakke, who joined Denver Water in 1997 and is one of the managers in the division. 

“She was the right person, in the right place at the right time for Denver Water,” said Alexis Woodrow, who manages Denver Water’s Lead Reduction Program. 

A different approach to fighting lead in drinking water 

Before joining Denver Water, Poncelet-Johnson worked on a variety of projects, including the design or construction of water or wastewater treatment plants used by Thornton and Aurora. 

That experience came into play when state regulators in 2018 told Denver Water the utility needed to add orthophosphate to the water it provides to protect customers from lead getting into the water from customer-owned lead service lines. 

There is no lead in the water Denver Water provides, but lead can get into drinking water through customer-owned service lines and internal plumbing that contain lead. 

Adding orthophosphate to drinking water reduces the ability of lead and other metals to get into the water. It’s also a nutrient that when added to wastewater and stormwater can result in negative impacts downstream.

Listen to Nicole Poncelet-Johnson talk about the Lead Reduction Program: 

And knowing that adding orthophosphate to Denver Water’s drinking water would require wastewater treatment plants to remove it, Poncelet-Johnson pushed for an alternative approach that would keep customers safe from lead and also avoid costly and long-term environmental impacts. 

Poncelet-Johnson’s efforts, along with the work of the utility’s water quality and treatment team and supporting consultants, enabled Denver Water’s leadership and board to ask state and federal regulators to consider and approve a different approach to protecting customers from lead. That approach eventually became the Lead Reduction Program, which combines an increase in the pH level of the water with the removal of tens of thousands of customer-owned lead service lines at no direct cost to the customer. 

“That’s the way Nicole looks at things, a holistic approach. She asks not just what’s best for the drinking water, but what’s best for the system — for the entire system of public health and the environment,” Woodrow said. 

Said Jessica Brody, Denver Water’s chief legal officer: “Poncelet-Johnson’s leadership and technical expertise gave her credibility when talking to the regulators about addressing lead in a different way than simply adding orthophosphate, which is what the regulations called for. And how the alternative way would be just as effective and also accomplish the goals faster and better. 

“She came to meetings with regulators prepared with our information and also a willingness to listen and assuage the concerns officials had about doing things differently,” Brody said. 

The reorg 

At the same time as discussions about the Lead Reduction Program were underway, Poncelet-Johnson also was reorganizing Denver Water’s water quality and treatment group, which has about 130 people. 

“Her vision took us from being ‘plant siloed,’ with groups focused on and dedicated to individual treatment plants, to a ‘system thinking’ focus with teams working across the different plants. That helped us be more flexible and nimbler, and to use our resources and our people to the best of our ability,” said Nicole Babyak, who leads the group’s startup, commissioning and optimization team. 

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The shift in focus enabled team members to cross-train, work and grow across Denver Water’s multiple treatment plants. Denver Water has four dedicated drinking water treatment plants, including the new Northwater Treatment Plant that started operations in April 2024, a water recycling plant and Colorado’s first on-site water reuse system at the utility’s Administration Building.

That flexibility was important during the COVID-19 pandemic, when cross-trained team members were able to quickly fill in for others if they were exposed to the virus or got sick. 

And it’s proven crucial for staff development, opening pathways for learning and advancement across the different treatment plants and the larger water quality and treatment group. 

A leader in STEM

As a leader in a sector known for leaning on skills in science, technology, engineering and math (referred to as STEM), Poncelet-Johnson is credited with supporting her staff and encouraging team members — especially women — to grow and advance in their careers.

“She has been the most present director I have seen,” said Shana Colcleasure, a water treatment plant supervisor. “She’s regularly out at the plants and lab, meeting with everyone, getting to know each employee and genuinely caring about each team members.” 

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Said Ryan Gregg, who oversees the teams that collects water samples throughout the system for analysis: “She developed the staff as a team, and helped individuals build their resumes by encouraging them to do different things. She was always looking to the future to see what steps a person — or we all — needed to take now in order to be ready for what is coming in the future.”

Poncelet-Johnson is known for pointing out job postings that could be the next rung on the ladder of a career. 

“In our leadership meetings, she makes an effort to encourage folks, especially woman, to apply for positions when the person may think they’re not 100% completely qualified for today, but she knows they can learn and grow and excel in the job,” Babyak said. 

And when job openings attracted interested women from inside and outside of Denver Water, being able to point to Poncelet-Johnson in her leadership role at the utility has been a plus. 

In fact, the number of women in Denver Water’s water quality and treatment group has grown to a point where additional women’s lockers have been needed at two older treatment plants, which were built without enough lockers to accommodate the number of female staff currently working at the sites. 

Poncelet-Johnson’s leadership roles also extend beyond Denver Water. 

In 2023, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis appointed Poncelet-Johnson to the state’s Water Quality Control Commission, part of the state health department. 

And she created a regional group focused on water quality optimization, technology, innovation and research that includes people from Denver Water, other municipal water providers and academic researchers. 

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“She’s so good at finding people and putting together teams to collaborate and share knowledge,” Babyak said. 
For her part, Poncelet-Johnson is proud of the work she did, the teams she worked with and the changes she helped bring about. 

“I’m so proud of the team. They care about one another and they’re strong. It’s through teams that people can accomplish great things,” she said. 

Poncelet-Johnson added that she leaves Denver Water with a high regard for the wide range of professionals who work at the utility. 

“The expertise of Denver Water’s staff enables it to implement strategies that make it more resilient, educate its customers about water and provide safe, great-tasting water and reliable service to 1.5 million people every day. That’s no small feat,” she said. 

“Embracing and engaging the talents of its staff and its partners gives Denver Water its ability to ‘do good’ in so many different areas, both regionally and nationally. I’ll be forever grateful having had the opportunity to be a part of that.” 

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