A career building and maintaining California’s water and wastewater treatment systems may be unglamorous, failing to spring to mind — at least it did for me — when young people contemplate their future careers. However, the state faces a looming shortage of workers in these critical roles. It is imperative to support local, state and federal policies that help fill them.  Some 17 million workers will be retiring from infrastructure jobs during the next 10 years, taking their skills and institutional knowledge with them, as the workforce ages. According to a US Water Alliance report, approximately one-third of water utility operators are eligible to retire during the next decade. In 2018, Brookings projected that water utilities must fill 9,200 water treatment positions annually.
— Written by Travis Hinkle, distribution system supervisor with San Jose Water