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Writer's pictureEric Burtzlaff, PE

Denver Water Puts Denver's Engineers to the Test!

Denver Water announces new intensive testing system to ensure submitting design engineers know their Denver Water basics and avoid costly mistakes.

Denver Water sent an e-mail to Denver's engineering community on Friday, 12/23, announcing that as of January 1, 2023 that they are implementing "mandatory computer based training for all design engineers that submit plans for review". This includes a new online training website/material and a TEST! The submitting design engineer will need to score 80% or higher to activate their account for submitting.


I just took the test myself (passed it!) and let me tell you, it was no joke. It took a little over an hour to complete. The questions required significant knowledge/study of the Denver Water Engineering and CAD standards. I've been personally working with Denver Water for over 10 years and some of the questions were still tough! There's multiple selections, none of the above, all of the above, and trick questions in the test. It's clear they hired someone who writes tests for a living.


Also, it's clear from the questions that other engineering firms use the 'wipeout' command a bit too much on their plan sets. Two questions devoted to wipeout management?! HA.


Denver Water has long been trying to get engineering firms to pay attention to their quality control and the Denver Water standards. The upper management and reviewers have expressed their distaste for being treated like quality control. They have implemented subsequent review fees, rejected submittals, and other measures. This new measure is something the front range hasn't seen yet (to my knowledge).


At Raptor Civil, I pride our team on getting specific internal Denver Water training. We do top-notch Denver Water plans and rarely run into the subsequent review fees on our projects, but I'm still going to take this time to have each of our staff members take and pass the test. Shout out to Denver Water for creating material for training the engineering community, and ideally, reducing review timelines, costs, and friction on both the development and Denver Water side of the table. It was also pretty fun to confirm all that knowledge is still up there.


Denver Water is truly putting the Denver land development engineering community to the test!


Here's a link to the plan review training website: https://www.denverwater.org/contractors/construction-information/plan-reviews


Here's a link to the assessment: https://planreviewportal.denverwater.org/


Here's a copy of the email sent:


Hello,
Beginning January 1, 2023, Denver Water will implement mandatory computer-based training for all design engineers that submit plans for review. The training will include an overview of Denver Waters plan review process, common inaccuracies on plan submittals, and design tips that will help for a successful submission. The goal is to reduce the amount of plan submittals needed to achieve plan approval. Ultimately, this will benefit your project team by reducing the amount of time your project spends in review, which will help with project deadlines, and provide savings on review fees by reducing subsequent submittals.
Following the training, an assessment on the curriculum will be provided. A passing score of 80% or higher will be required for all submitting engineers. The plan review training module is now available and located here, Denver Water | Plan Review Training. Please know this applies to new projects only. If you have a project in review prior to January 1, 2023, this requirement will not apply.
Thank you,
Denver Water Sales Administration Team
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