The Future Of Water Service Depends On Bridging The Looming Talent Gap

By Chris Shaffner

In a public statement addressing the Environmental Protection Agency’s Water Workforce Initiative and the need to secure fresh talent for the water industry, the Water Environment Federation’s Tom Kunetz shared what seems to be the industry’s clarion call. He said that “building a dynamic and diverse water workforce for the 21st century is absolutely vital” for matters of both public health and environmental conservation¹ — and nothing is more pressing.

In more than a few ways, our industry is in need of revamping. The workforce must become dynamic and diverse with real facilitation between generations in order to ensure that clean, accessible water may flow on. Younger generations are primed to solve these challenges; as digital natives, they’ve already disrupted industries and forced companies to modernize. Young, diverse talent will become important to supporting the industry and solving problems such as rural utility degradation. After all, the EPA estimates that U.S. water infrastructure will require $743 billion in updates over the next 20 years.²

The task of interesting and recruiting the necessary talent falls on those of us already well along in our careers. We must focus on how to attract younger talent pools effectively and what solutions could look like.

An Upcoming Sea Change In The Water Industry

A large share of the nation’s workforce will be retiring within the next 10 years, and this will have a huge impact on the water industry. In fact, one in three workers³ within water and wastewater services are set to retire in that time, and roughly three million workers in infrastructure as a whole will need replacing due to either retirement or professional transitions in the same 10-year time frame.⁴ The wave of upcoming retirees is being called the “silver tsunami,” and the upheaval places an exorbitant demand on worker replacement in segments that don’t have relief valves. Keeping to the water sector, the talent shortage dilemma breaks down across three distinct lines:

• Incumbent talent either retiring or transitioning out of the sector altogether.
• The industry anticipating faster workforce growth compared to national averages, yet growth that’s not equitably distributed according to geographic and skill-specific needs.
• Separations from No. 1 and growth levels from No. 2 leading to higher vacancy rates in the aggregate.

Diverse And Education-Based Recruiting Pipelines

There is also the problem of attracting talent from a wider net for more specialized roles that offer higher pay. A 2018 report from the Brookings Institution shows that one-third of the water sector workforce is people of color, yet a closer look shows higher proportions of diverse talent in construction and other labor-intensive segments and markedly fewer diverse candidates in higher-paying positions (such as those of hydrologists or engineers).⁴ It’s similar to how work lanes have traditionally broken down by gender, with women historically occupying more administrative support roles and men working within technical, hands-on trades.

This shows that the industry has plenty of room to cast a wider net. Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s PowerPathway program is a good example of how to increase diverse talent. Although the company is still bringing in more women into the trade, it recognizes that reaching out to entire communities that have not historically gravitated toward infrastructure roles is the most viable means of securing talent sustainably for the sector. In fact, no fewer than 68 percent of participants are people of color.⁵

Of course, representation is just one element of a complex challenge that also requires bridging relevant talent from one generation to the next. This comes down to establishing a strategic hiring presence where tomorrow’s workforce is actively considering career paths. That means building pipelines at the high school and community college level and supplying the right information.

Students and workers often face some degree of competition within the sector of their choice. However, the water industry holds considerable promise for those seeking work here for three reasons:

• Due to the high retirement rates among the incumbent workforce, newer entrants to the field will find ample long-term career paths.
• Higher demand means workers receive competitive and equitable wages with lower educational barriers to entry into the sector.
• Skills often translate well between different disciplines across infrastructure, allowing for better worker mobility.⁶

In many ways, the current pandemic has accelerated a trend that has been continuing for some time in regard to where students pursue education.⁷ More and more often, young people are trying to determine whether long-term debt is worth obtaining a four-year degree. Findings from the College Savings Foundation’s 2019 annual youth survey suggested that students are weighing more heavily the prospects and financial demands of postsecondary learning.⁸

This presents a huge opportunity for recruiting new talent. Utility companies and organizations partnering with community colleges to meet industry demand is one of the best cases of this being borne out. The National Rural Water Association is just one example of an organization that focuses on developing talent pipelines through recruiting, training, and supporting water workers who serve rural communities. The organization works with nearly all of the state water associations,⁹ and it trained more than 23,500 system personnel in 2020.¹⁰

The PowerPathway initiative proves to be yet another example of successfully building a talent pipeline. The company develops select enrollment programs focused on hiring for local needs that last between 8 and 12 weeks. It then works together with a network of educational partners to tailor coursework to equip those enrolling for entry- and apprentice-level positions both within Pacific Gas and Electric Company and the utilities industry at large. The program crosses an array of talent sectors, including municipal training organizations, workforce investment boards, labor unions, and military installations. Simultaneously, prescreening between the application process and employment ensures higher retention and postgraduation employment.¹¹

Water leaders will contend with complex and difficult challenges. Shrinking water supplies¹² and a decline in water quality¹³ will require bold technological moves. And in a far more dynamic and digitized working world, younger generations will likely bring those solutions to the table.^{14, 15}

As the water industry evolves and faces more complicated challenges, it’s on those of us working from the inside to do everything we can to ensure a future-proof legacy. We can’t wait to create more sustainability in the field — we must start now so the ripples will be felt for generations to come.

Chris Shaffner is the senior vice president of the Water and Community Facilities division at CoBank, a national cooperative bank serving vital industries across rural America by providing loans, leases, export financing, and other financial services in all 50 states. Chris oversees the strategic growth and management of CoBank’s water infrastructure lending, rural healthcare investments, and rural equity funds. Before joining CoBank, Chris held various leadership positions in both public and private organizations, including heading the Manhattan borough operations for the New York City Housing Authority.

References

1. https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-announces-water-workforce-initiative-help-recruit-and-prepare-next-generation-clean#
2. https://bipartisanpolicy.org/blog/providing-critical-water-services-through-the-covid-19-crisis/
3. https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-announces-initiative-recruit-and-retain-21st-century-water-workforce
4. https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Brookings-Metro-Renewing-the-Water-Workforce-June-2018.pdf
5. https://jobs.pge.com/power-pathway
6. https://www.brookings.edu/research/water-workforce/
7. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/23/how-families-pay-for-college.html
8. https://www.collegesavingsfoundation.org/articles-and-csf-mentions/cnbc-csf-chair-rich-polimeni-shared-with-cnbcs-jessica-dickler-the-findings-of-csfs-10th-annual-youth-survey/
9. https://nrwa.org/about/
10. https://nrwa.org/
11. https://www.skilledtradesplaybook.org/partnering-community-colleges/
12. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/partner-content-americas-looming-water-crisis
13. https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/08/1044551
14. https://www.americancityandcounty.com/2019/11/06/how-the-multi-generational-workforce-can-shape-the-future-of-public-procurement/
15. https://www.careersingovernment.com/tools/gov-talk/about-gov/education/how-generation-z-could-solve-the-water-workforces-talent-problem/