Water Resources & Floodplain Engineering for Western Colorado.

Serving Colorado's Western Slope with practical, affordable engineering and geospatial solutions — floodplain permitting, hydrologic & hydraulic modeling, debris flow studies, irrigation & ditch systems, and GIS-based water management.

Who We Help
Developers Agricultural Producers Municipalities Ditch & Irrigation Companies Landowners
Who We Are

Water resources engineering for the Mountain West.

Clearwater Resources is an owner-operated firm focused on hydrology, hydraulics, floodplain analysis, and agricultural water systems — across Colorado and the Mountain West.

A river running through a broad valley

Land Development

Hydrology, hydraulics, hazard analysis, and permitting for development in flood-prone and mountainous terrain.

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Clear water running over a rock streambed

Streams & Ponds

Stream restoration, channel and bank design, ponds, small dams, and wetlands.

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An open canal running through a grassy field

Water Supply Systems

Inventory, measurement, conveyance design, and water rights engineering for ditch and irrigation companies.

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How We Work

A straightforward process, built to deliver.

01

Plan

We start by understanding the site, the system, and the regulatory context — no assumptions.

02

Design

We develop practical, defensible designs aligned with your timeline and budget.

03

Permit

We prepare the studies, models, and documentation agencies require, and carry them through review to approval.

Why Clearwater Resources

15 years of large-firm experience. Specialized expertise, delivered directly.

01

Owner-Operated

You work directly with the engineer. No bureaucracy, no handoffs, no junior staff doing the technical work.

02

Specialized & Technical

Deep focus on floodplain, hydraulic, and agricultural water systems — backed by HEC-RAS, HEC-HMS, and ArcGIS Pro.

03

Responsive & Local

Based in the Roaring Fork Valley. Fast turnaround, clear communication, and on-the-ground familiarity with Western Colorado.

04

Practical & Efficient

Lower overhead than large consulting firms — without sacrificing technical rigor or defensible documentation.

Let's Talk

Let's discuss your project.

Whether you're in planning, permitting, or implementation — we'll help you move forward with clarity.

About CWR

A water resources PE in your corner.

I am a licensed engineer who handles the water and hazard problems that stall a project at the county — floodplain, drainage, geologic hazards, water supply, and hydraulic structures. Clearwater Resources is my practice, and I do the work myself.

Principal & Owner

Photo coming soon
Licenses PE — Colorado & Nebraska
Certifications NRCS TSP
Education MS Civil Engineering, UNL BS Biological Systems Engineering
Experience 15+ Years

Taylor Wiese, PE

Principal Engineer & Owner

I have spent 15 years in water resources engineering — hydrologic and hydraulic modeling, floodplain analysis, and the permitting that goes with them. I started Clearwater Resources to do that work directly for clients in Western Colorado, without the overhead and the handoffs that come with a larger firm.

Before starting Clearwater Resources I spent my career at HDR and AECOM, working on bridge and roadway crossings, municipal stormwater, FEMA floodplain permitting, dams and levees, and agricultural water infrastructure. Along the way I was trained by Gary Brunner, the founder of HEC-RAS.

I live in the Roaring Fork Valley with my wife Crystal and our two kids, Ea and Otto. Most of what I love about this place is outside — the rivers, the high country, the elk in the fall — and a good share of my weekends are spent out in it with the family. That is not separate from the work. These are the same rivers and watersheds my kids are growing up on, and I would rather leave them better than I found them.

The Practice

The engineering depth of a big firm, without the overhead.

Clearwater Resources is a one-person practice by design. I take on water resources, floodplain, geologic hazard, and agricultural water work across Western Colorado, and I keep the caseload small enough that every project gets senior-level attention rather than being staffed down to whoever is available.

Most of my work comes through planners, architects, landscape architects, and civil firms who need the water and hazard scope covered on a project they are already leading. I work as a subconsultant on your contract, and I do not compete for your design work. That is a deliberate limit on what I do, and it is what makes me safe to bring to a client.

I am based in Glenwood Springs, at the confluence of the Roaring Fork and the Colorado. Most of my projects are within an hour's drive — Garfield, Pitkin, Eagle, and Mesa Counties — which means site visits are a normal part of the job rather than a line item someone has to justify.

How We Work Together

Most engagements start as one scope on someone else's project. Here is what that usually looks like:

  • Subconsultant on your contract — under your proposal, reporting to you, in front of your client only when you want me there.
  • Overflow support — when your schedule is full and the hydraulics still have to get done.
  • Senior-level work on every task — the engineer you meet does the analysis. There is no junior staff to hand it to.
  • Fee estimates for your proposals, at no charge — send me the scope and I will size the water and hazard piece so you can price your pursuit.
  • On-call task orders — for firms with recurring drainage and floodplain work, an open agreement is usually simpler than a proposal per project.
  • Fifteen-minute calls to size up a site, also at no charge — before anyone commits to a scope, it is worth knowing whether the site actually has a problem.

Mission

Water has been shaping this valley a lot longer than any of us have been building in it. My work is to understand what it intends to do next — where it goes in a hundred-year storm, what the creek carries off the mountain, how much the well will really give — and to put that understanding in the hands of the people who have to make a decision with it.

Done well, it means a house sits where the water will not find it, a crossing survives the flood it was built for, and a ditch delivers what it was decreed to deliver. It is quiet work. Mostly it shows up as the things that never happen.

Core Values

  • Honesty — a straight answer, including when it is not the one you were hoping for.
  • Accuracy — the number has to be right. Everything built on top of it depends on that.
  • Dependability — I answer the phone, and I finish what I start.
  • Respect — for your budget, your deadline, and the land the project sits on.
Services

One engineer. Three practice areas.

Everything I do comes back to one question: where does the water go, how much of it, how fast, and what does it do to the ground and the structures in its way. Answering it means watershed and river modeling, sediment and debris flow analysis, storage and conveyance design, floodplain permitting, and the field measurement that keeps a model honest.

That same foundation gets applied differently depending on who is asking. The three areas below are those applications. Most projects touch more than one.

Land Development

Hydrology, hydraulics, hazard analysis, and permitting for development in flood-prone and mountainous terrain — the water problems that stall a project at the county.

  • Floodplain Permitting
  • Geologic Hazard Assessments
  • Grading & Drainage Plans
  • Stormwater Management
  • Well Testing & Permitting
  • Stream Crossings

Streams & Ponds

Design for water you are building rather than avoiding — channel and bank work, ponds, small dams, and wetlands, sized to the flows they actually have to carry.

  • Stream Restoration & Channel Design
  • Bank Stabilization & Grade Control
  • Pond Design
  • Small Dams & Spillways
  • Wetland Design & Enhancement
  • Waterway Permitting

Water Supply Systems

Engineering for ditch companies, irrigation districts, and ranches — the infrastructure that moves water to the field and the accounting that documents it.

  • System Inventories
  • Water Budget Analysis
  • System Calibration & Optimization
  • Water Use Efficiency Assessments
  • Canal & Pipeline Design
  • Grant Writing Assistance
  • Water Rights Engineering
Home / Services / Land Development
Land Development

Hydrology, hydraulics, and permitting for mountain & floodplain development.

CWR provides hydrology, hydraulics, and permitting support for land development projects located within complex floodplain and mountainous environments. The division focuses on helping clients navigate regulatory requirements while designing practical and resilient infrastructure systems.

Core Services

Select a service to explore details.

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Home / Services / Water Supply Systems
Water Supply Systems

Engineering for the ditches, canals, and companies that move water to the field.

CWR works with ditch companies, irrigation districts, ranches, and water user associations on the infrastructure and the accounting behind water delivery — inventory, measurement, loss analysis, conveyance design, water rights engineering, and the improvement planning that makes a grant application competitive.

Core Services

Select a service to explore details.

Software Platform Beta · Invite Only

DitchWorks — a modern operations platform for ditch and irrigation companies.

DitchWorks is CWR's purpose-built web platform for managing irrigation infrastructure. It combines GIS mapping, water budgeting, and field measurement workflows in a single tool — so ditch managers can see their whole system, track daily deliveries, and identify losses with confidence.

Currently in private beta with a Roaring Fork Valley ditch company. Onboarding additional pilot companies in 2026.

  • Full GIS inventory of diversions, turnouts, headgates, users, and ditches
  • Volume-based water budgeting in acre-feet over any simulation period
  • Field-friendly gage readings — Parshall, Cipoletti, rated section, or staff
  • Back-solved seepage calibration from real flow measurements
  • Shapefile import & export — works with your existing data
  • Browser-based — no installs, works on any device with internet
What it does

  • Map your system

    Build a complete inventory of every diversion, structure, turnout, user, and ditch on an interactive map.

  • Run the water budget

    Set diversion and turnout flows, run a 24-hour budget, and see exactly where every drop of water goes.

  • Calibrate with real data

    Enter gage readings from the field and let DitchWorks back-solve seepage rates for each section of canal.

  • Find the losses

    Track where water is being lost to seepage, evaporation, or unaccounted tailwater — section by section.

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Home / Services / Streams & Ponds
Streams & Ponds

Design for water you are building, not just water you are avoiding.

Stream restoration, channel and bank design, ponds, small dams, and wetlands — projects where the goal is to shape how water moves rather than to keep it away from a structure. The design work is grounded in the same hydrology and hydraulics as the permitting side, because a channel or a pond that ignores the design event does not stay built.

Core Services

Select a service to explore details.

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Services Include

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    Projects

    Selected work, across disciplines.

    Featured projects organized by division — floodplain & drainage, river & hydraulic modeling, agricultural water systems, and GIS infrastructure systems. A curated set of case studies is in development.

    Coming Soon

    Case studies are in development.

    In the meantime, reach out to discuss specific experience relevant to your project. We're happy to walk through past work in detail.

    Contact

    Let's discuss your project.

    Tell us about your project — we'll respond within one business day.

    Get in touch

    Email
    taylor@cwreng.com
    Phone
    (970) 379-2945
    Service Area
    Roaring Fork Valley
    Glenwood Springs to Aspen — and throughout Western Colorado & the Mountain West
    Professional Background

    Taylor Wiese, PE

    Civil Engineer — Water Resources  ·  Principal, Clearwater Resources Engineering

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    Summary

    Water resources engineer with over 15 years of experience in hydrologic and hydraulic modeling, FEMA floodplain permitting, stormwater management, and infrastructure design. Career spans federal transportation programs (Union Pacific Railroad, state DOTs), municipal stormwater, dam and levee construction oversight, and complex CLOMR/LOMR projects. Personally trained by HEC-RAS founder Gary Brunner. Licensed PE in Colorado and Nebraska. Now operating independently through Clearwater Resources Engineering, based in Glenwood Springs, CO.

    Credentials
    Licenses

    Professional Engineer — Colorado (PE.0066119)

    Professional Engineer — Nebraska (E-17178)

    Certifications

    NRCS Technical Service Provider (TSP)

    Education

    MS Civil Engineering — University of Nebraska–Lincoln, 2017

    BS Biological Systems Engineering — University of Nebraska–Lincoln, 2013

    Experience

    Taylor has worked for top-tier engineering firms including HDR and AECOM, accumulating over 15 years of project experience across federal transportation programs, municipal stormwater systems, FEMA floodplain permitting, dam and levee construction oversight, and agricultural water infrastructure. He was personally trained by Gary Brunner, founder of HEC-RAS, and has served as a primary technical reviewer for complex regulatory H&H submittals. Through Clearwater Resources, he now brings that large-firm depth directly to clients in Western Colorado.

    Technical Skills
    H&H Modeling

    HEC-RAS (1D/2D), HEC-HMS, XPSWMM (1D/2D), InfoWorks ICM, SRH-2D, HydroCAD

    GIS & CAD

    ArcGIS Pro, ArcHydro, Civil 3D, ArcGIS Online, Field Maps, Survey123

    Regulatory

    FEMA CLOMR/LOMR, No-Rise Certifications, Section 404 Permitting, NRCS TSP

    Specialty Areas

    Bridge & culvert hydraulics, stormwater master planning, dam & levee analysis, groundwater data analysis, 3D geologic modeling

    Selected Projects
    NeDNR Real-Time Flood Forecasting — Nebraska
    HDR · 2021–2023

    Led development of 50+ 2D HEC-RAS hydraulic models calibrated to USGS gage data, generating inundation maps at 0.5-ft stage intervals from low flood stage through the Probable Maximum Precipitation event. Models support statewide emergency response planning.

    Sand Creek LOMR — Denver, CO
    AECOM · 2024

    Led FEMA LOMR development for the City Park East & West redevelopment. Consolidated multiple prior CLOMRs into a comprehensive HEC-RAS model and coordinated final package submission to MHFD and FEMA.

    Big Thompson River CLOMR — US-34, CO
    AECOM · 2024

    Developed detailed HEC-RAS model from Lake Estes to The Narrows in support of proposed roadway improvements. Coordinated CLOMR submission to CWCB and FEMA.

    Union Pacific Railroad Bridge Replacement Program
    HDR · 2012–2023

    Completed over 75 bridge and culvert H&H analyses supporting Union Pacific's annual bridge replacement initiative. Coordinated with CDOT, NDOT, IaDOT, TxDOT, LADOTD, and KDOT on state-specific regulatory compliance.

    Cedar Rapids Stormwater Master Plan — Iowa
    HDR · 2020

    Developed existing-conditions InfoWorks ICM model to identify drainage deficiencies and proposed flood mitigation strategies for the City's Stormwater Management Plan update.

    Freeport, TX Levee Improvement — USACE
    HDR · 2020

    Supported USACE on a levee raising project protecting the City of Freeport and major industrial stakeholders including DOW Chemical and the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Coordinated interior drainage and levee design integration.

    Ready to discuss your project?

    Taylor works directly on every engagement — from scoping through delivery.