Industry Salaries Were Going Up. Will The Pandemic Dampen The Trend?

By Joe Cogliano

Workers at water and wastewater utilities got a decent bump in their paychecks going into 2020, which also marked the third consecutive year of overall increases.

That’s according to the American Water Works Association's (AWWA) recently released 2020 Water and Wastewater Utility Compensation Survey. From March 2019 to March 2020, water utility salaries rose 4.2 percent for large utilities (above 100,000 population), 4.0 percent for medium utilities (10,000-99,000), and 3.9 percent for small utilities (less than 10,000). This marks a significant jump compared to the previous year in which salaries increased 1.7 percent for large utilities, 0.8 percent for medium utilities, and 1.9 percent for small utilities.

Positive salary trends are an important tool for being competitive in recruiting and retaining skilled employees, which is a growing challenge for water utilities facing a large number of retirements in the next few years.

However, fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic could stifle that growth.

An AWWA-funded study produced by Raftelis in April estimated that water and wastewater utilities will experience a negative financial impact from the pandemic in excess of $27 billion from factors such as customer delinquencies, revenue shortfalls from consumption declines, and increased expenses. Other impacts could include delayed and reduced capital expenditures and deferred water-rate increases. By summer, spending adjustments had been made or were under consideration at 70 percent of utilities, according to an AWWA COVID-19 impact survey.

While COVID-19 brought the fact that water professionals are essential workers to the forefront, it is unclear if wage growth will continue through tough economic times.

“Regardless, with the help of dedicated water professionals providing safe and uninterrupted water and sanitation services, we will move beyond these difficulties,” said David LaFrance, AWWA’s CEO.

The 2020 compensation survey also showed that salaries were increasing faster for specific jobs, including corrosion tech (23.2 percent), information services manager (14.4 percent), water controller supervisor (14.0 percent), and watershed keeper (13.5 percent). Across most industries, average salary-increase budgets nationally were around 3.0 percent.

The 2020 survey results are based on input from 566 organizations through March 1 of this year, representing more than 25,100 employees. Detailed survey results addressing salaries, salary ranges, and compensation practices are available for purchase in separate versions for large, medium, and small utilities on AWWA’s website.