Janet Rummel

Janet has nearly two decades of experience leading public relations, issues management, and stakeholder engagement for municipal water and wastewater utilities — including extended in-house tenures at Colorado Springs Utilities and the North Texas Municipal Water District. She directed strategic communications as the project owner representative for two of the largest water infrastructure projects in the country: the $850-million Southern Delivery System for Colorado Springs Utilities and the $1.6-billion Bois d'Arc Lake project for NTMWD. Both were multi-year, multi-county programs that required navigating intense scrutiny from elected officials, regulators, community leaders, property owners, and the media on purpose and need, environmental and construction impacts, land acquisition, and rate increases.

Her crisis experience is direct and operational. At Colorado Springs Utilities, she managed communications through employee injuries, water main breaks, wastewater spills, service outages, winter storms, and wildfires. At NTMWD, she led public and stakeholder communications through a major pipeline break that flooded 13 homes, an ammonia leak at a water treatment plant, chemical and wastewater spills, and an employee fatality. As a consultant, she has developed crisis preparedness plans for utility clients across boil-water advisories, chemical spills, system and pipeline failures, drought response, natural disasters, and serious workplace injuries. She has completed FEMA Advanced Public Information Officer training and is certified under the National Incident Management System (NIMS).

Janet has also guided utility communications on water quality issues — including PFAS health advisories, lead service line replacement programs, and disinfectant treatment controversies. She led Sigler's work for the City of Greeley's lead service line inspection and replacement program, developing the campaign strategy, messaging, and all public-facing materials. In 2018, she helped NTMWD navigate a nationally amplified water quality controversy involving Erin Brockovich, developing the information and tools that diffused public concern and restored community confidence in the treatment process.