Mike Applegate Wins Top Colorado Water Congress Award

A longtime member of the Northern Water Board of Directors has received the highest honor from the Colorado Water Congress.  

Board Member Emeritus Mike Applegate was presented with the Aspinall Award, which honors one leader in Colorado each year for his or her contributions to the water community, at the Colorado Water Congress summer conference on Aug. 20, 2026, in Steamboat Springs. 

Applegate was the founder of the consulting engineering firm The Applegate Group. Work from engineers in that group appears all across Colorado, and its alumni engineers have advanced to high levels of public and private practice throughout the state and beyond. 

In addition to his private work, Applegate was a voting member of the Northern Water and Municipal Subdistrict boards of directors for 32 years, 25 of which were as president of the Northern Water Board. Work advanced on the Northern Integrated Supply Project and the Windy Gap Firming Project during his terms on the board, and he is credited with helping to craft the agreements that made both projects possible. In 2024, he was appointed as a nonvoting, emeritus member of the board. 

He received the award with his wife and two adult children in attendance at the conference.  

The award is named after Rep. Wayne Aspinall, who served in Congress as a fierce advocate of Colorado water resources.