Building A Better Water Workforce Starts With People, Not Positions

By Kevin Westerling,
@KevinOnWater

A discovery at ACE26 offers practical ideas for attracting, developing, and retaining the next generation of water professionals.

One of my favorite parts of attending industry conferences is stumbling across something I wasn't looking for.

That happened recently at AWWA's ACE26, where I came across Ten Steps to Building a 21st Century Water Workforce. Presented in poster format, it wasn't promoting a new technology or showcasing the latest treatment innovation. Instead, it focused on something every utility is grappling with: finding, developing, and retaining great people.

Developed by Brian Gongol, M.S., M.Ed., the presentation is packed with practical observations about leadership, workplace culture, and the everyday decisions that influence whether people choose to join — and stay in — the water industry. As someone who spends much of my time covering treatment technologies, PFAS, AI, infrastructure resilience, and utility operations, I appreciated the reminder that none of those initiatives succeed without capable people behind them.

Rather than summarize Gongol's presentation point by point, I'd rather highlight a few themes that stayed with me after seeing it. His work is best experienced in its entirety, and I hope these observations encourage you to explore the full presentation for yourself.

Growth Is One Of The Best Recruiting Tools

Gongol opens with a straightforward observation: "The water sector cannot afford to offer dead-end jobs."

It's a simple statement, but it reframes workforce development as more than a hiring challenge. Recruiting doesn't end when someone accepts a position. Employees want to know they're building a career, not simply filling a role.

Throughout the presentation, Gongol encourages utilities to make professional development part of the employee experience — from mentoring and continuing education to opportunities for increased responsibility and leadership. Those investments benefit individuals while strengthening the organization itself. In a competitive labor market, helping employees envision a future with your utility may be one of the strongest retention tools available.

Reputation Matters Beyond The Customer

Utilities work hard to earn public trust, but Gongol argues they should think just as intentionally about their reputation as employers.

Many people outside the industry have little understanding of the opportunities available in water. They simply haven't been exposed to them. That's why recruiting starts long before a job posting appears online.

Community outreach, internships, school partnerships, facility tours, and public engagement all help introduce future employees to an industry that often operates behind the scenes.

Those interactions can influence whether someone ever considers a career in water in the first place.

As Gongol states, "Branding can work wonders." Even something as simple as a professional public image can reinforce the value of water work and the people who perform it.

Culture Can Be A Competitive Advantage

Not every utility can outbid private industry on salary. Fortunately, compensation is only one part of the employment equation.

One of the recurring themes throughout Gongol's presentation is that workplace culture is built through countless small decisions. Recognition, visible leadership, safe working conditions, opportunities to contribute ideas, and a sense of purpose all influence whether employees feel valued.

Culture has a lot less to do with what's written on the wall than what employees experience when they show up for work each day.

Utilities that consistently invest in those experiences often gain an advantage that can't easily be replicated through compensation alone.

Small Improvements Add Up

Perhaps what I appreciated most about Gongol's presentation is that it doesn't promise a silver bullet.

Instead, it encourages leaders to think incrementally. Workforce development rarely comes down to a single program or initiative. More often, it's the product of dozens of decisions that gradually make an organization a better place to work.

That philosophy should sound familiar to anyone in the water sector. Utilities have long embraced continuous improvement in treatment processes, asset management, and operations. Gongol suggests applying that same mindset to people.

"Incremental improvement matters," he notes, recognizing that small improvements, compounded over time, can produce extraordinary results for both employees and organizations.

Worth Your Time

The observations above represent only a small sample of the ideas Gongol shares in Ten Steps to Building a 21st Century Water Workforce. His presentation expands on 10 guiding principles with dozens of practical recommendations that utility leaders can adapt to their own organizations.

If workforce development is a priority for your utility — and it's difficult to imagine one where it isn't — I encourage you to spend some time with the full presentation. Utility managers will find plenty of practical ideas they can apply immediately, along with a few reminders about why people remain every utility's most important asset.

You can explore Brian Gongol's complete presentation here:
https://gongol.net/presentations/waterworkforce/