2009
Initial conversations between the Mesa County Water Association (MCWA) board and CMU faculty and administration on how to blend MCWA's public education work with CMU's scholarly expertise and resources.
2010
Expanded vision to include cooperation among the broader community of water experts and stakeholders in the Upper Colorado watershed in Colorado. April of 2010, assembled fifty water experts from private industry and federal, state and local government agencies to test out the idea of making the Water Center a broad community collaboration; the need for and concept to create a Water Center was well-received.
2010-2011
An advisory panel evaluated the concept and laid the institutional foundation. CMU and MCWA jointly hosted and publicized a water tour on Grand Mesa, a seminar series and a "Water 101" course for the public, and a memorandum of understanding between the Mesa County Water Association and Colorado Mesa University formally established the Water Center. The MOU was signed in May of 2011.
2015
On October 1, 2015, the Water Center was named the Ruth Powell Hutchins Water Center. Learn more about Ruth here, in this article by Bob Silbernagel for Inside CMU.
Today
We are continuing to build the Water Center's capacity to fulfill its mission to perform and facilitate interdisciplinary and collaborative research, education, outreach and dialogue to address the water issues facing the Upper Colorado River Basin.