After 30 years, Dave “DK” Kanzer to retire from the Colorado River District

The Colorado River District and David Kanzer jointly announce that after 30 years of service to the constituents of the Colorado River District, David Kanzer has decided to retire from the Colorado River District, effective January 31, 2025.

Dave, or “DK” as he is more commonly known, served the people and communities of the District in a variety of capacities during his tenure and was an effective advocate for modernizing water use on the Western Slope and creatively bringing a variety of financial resources to bear in helping water users conserve and to utilize our most precious resource, water, more efficiently, while minimizing environmental impacts.

Along with strong partners, DK worked to bring 66 miles of the Gunnison River into Clean Water Act compliance for dissolved selenium. concentrations and worked to remove two major river barriers to free up almost 30 river miles of the Gunnison River for safe navigation and fish passage.

Throughout his career, DK led in the development and implementation of accurate and reliable scientific hydro-climatic data in Western Colorado and the Colorado River Basin, as a whole, with the goal of informing and helping craft sound water policy.

DK most recently served as Director of Science and Interstate Matters for the District and was an integral part of the District’s team focused on interstate and federal Colorado River matters.

The District sincerely thanks Dave DK Kanzer for his 30 years of service.