"Water Found Me" - with AWWA President Heather Collins

In this episode of 21st Century Water, we sit down with Heather Collins, president of the American Water Works Association (AWWA) and operations leader at the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. We trace Heather’s path from engineering intern to managing water treatment for 19 million people, hearing how she was drawn into the water industry by chance and has stayed ever since. Her career journey is rooted in a commitment to innovation, collaboration, and public service, and it shapes her priorities as AWWA president today.We discuss the scale and complexity of running one of the nation’s largest wholesale water operations, including the balancing act of hydrology, source water quality, demand planning, and emergency preparedness. Heather explains how her team maintains agility with five-layer-deep contingency plans and how their Climate Action Master Plan (CAMP) for Water aligns infrastructure, planning, and sustainability.Shifting to her role at AWWA, Heather outlines three key priorities: rebuilding public trust in water, cross-sector collaboration, and mentoring the next generation. She sees public trust as rooted in proactive communication, storytelling, and connecting with people on a human level. On collaboration, she’s committed to engaging water-intensive industries like tech, agriculture, and healthcare in dialogue, making AWWA the go-to resource for best practices and research. Her goal is for these industries to reference AWWA as the authoritative source on water.Mentorship is also central to her leadership. Heather aims to demystify water careers for students and workers across generations, often drawing direct links between their interests and potential water sector roles. She emphasizes the power of being present and giving younger professionals the “cliff notes” to accelerate their learning and career development.Heather also reflects on managing crises, highlighting her work on emerging groundwater contaminants like MTBE and perchlorate while a public health regulator. That experience reinforced her belief in the value of engineered, science-based solutions. We close with a look at technology’s role in water, where Heather embraces AI and advanced tools but insists we maintain a manual understanding to ensure resilience.Her legacy? To be remembered as a leader who led with kindness, purpose, and built lasting bridges—between people, sectors, and generations. Aquasight Website: https://aquasight.io/