About Upstream AI

Smarter tools for the places that matter most.

We build AI-powered infrastructure intelligence for small water and wastewater utilities — because the communities that need better technology the most are usually the last to get it.

Born at the confluence of rivers and ideas.

It's President's Day in Vail valley. The slopes are packed. Rob, the vail valley wastewater and sanitation operations manager, is on his day off — exactly where he should be. Meanwhile, at the wastewater facility, an air-actuated valve installed in the 1970s quietly fails.

On-call staff search for answers. The O&M manual is buried on a dusty shelf, long forgotten. Nobody has operated this valve manually in decades — that knowledge retired years ago. Meanwhile, influent wastewater keeps pouring in. Tanks begin to fill.

More staff are called in. Costs rise. Morale — already stretched thin — takes another hit. And none of it needed to happen. Intelligent early alerts would have caught this before it became a crisis.

Rob had to leave the mountain, drive back to the plant, and hit three buttons — because the institutional knowledge of how that system worked lived only in his head. That moment is the exact problem Upstream AI solves. We are not building for an abstract market. We are building the tool Rob needed.

"Rural communities don't need more dashboards. They need confidence in the data behind them — and tools that think alongside the operators who keep the water flowing."

What if an operating manager in a mountain town could see exactly which assets need attention, when, and why?

Rob met Katrina where they started to work on this and spent the next several months building prototypes, testing early models with local utilities and municipal teams who were generous enough to share their data and their frustrations. The feedback was unanimous: this wasn't just useful — it was overdue.

The name "Upstream" is a nod to where they live — above the headwaters, at the start of the river system — and to their philosophy. Fix problems upstream, before they cascade. Think ahead. Invest early. That's how rural communities don't just survive, but thrive.

Three principles that guide everything.

01

Trust before intelligence

AI predictions are worthless on bad data. We fix the foundation first — scoring every sensor reading for reliability — so that when we layer on intelligence, you can actually act on it.

02

Built for rural, not retrofitted

We don't scale down enterprise software. Every feature is designed from scratch for communities with tight budgets, small teams, and big responsibilities.

03

Empower Staff

Folks working at facilities are overloaded with tasks. And are experiencing low grade stress worried that their phone vibration is a SCADA alarm telling them something is awry at the facility. This software give them a chance to take a breath and get an overview of the plant

Meet the founders.

Two Glenwood Springs residents who believe technology should work hardest where resources are scarcest.

RR
Rob Ringle
Co-Founder & CEO

ob Ringle is a Professional Engineer specializing in the intersection of municipal water operations and advanced data science. From managing complex treatment facilities at Eagle River to leading large-scale engineering projects at Black & Veatch, Rob has spent his career optimizing the lifeblood of our communities. He is an expert in treatment process design and plant automation systems (SCADA/PLCs), now focused on deploying AI and machine learning to revolutionize operational decision-making for municipal water systems.

KE
Katrina Engelsted
Co-Founder & COO

Katrina brings a multidisciplinary background spanning data analytics, geospatial technology, and digital marketing. Her career has focused on helping organizations use data, automation, and modern software to make better operational decisions. She has worked at the intersection of business strategy and technology, designing analytics systems, marketing platforms, and digital customer journeys for both startups and established organizations.

Proudly headquartered in Glenwood Springs, Colorado — at the confluence of the Roaring Fork and Colorado rivers

Want to work together?

We're always looking for operators, utilities, and partners who want to build the future of rural infrastructure intelligence.

Get in touch →