Create a new branding strategy to more effectively market the utility or organization to younger students and a broader pool of prospective workers.Hire and train dedicated staff to meet with younger students, connect with more diverse prospective workers, and explore alternative recruitment strategies.Utilities and other water employers need to empower staff, adjust existing procedures, and pilot new efforts in support of the water workforce Informed by site visits across three different regions (California’s Bay Area Louisville, Kentucky and Camden, New Jersey ), an expert roundtable in Washington, D.C., and multiple other conversations with industry leaders, this playbook calls for several actions:ġ. The country needs a water workforce playbook to accelerate thinking, action, and investment. Ultimately, locally-driven actions are crucial to develop new strategies and target new investments, but the scale of the issue demands broader regional collaborations and national support to build additional financial, technical, and programmatic capacity. Read more about specific barriers to water workforce hiring, training, and retention on page 31.» Not all places are equally equipped to accelerate their workforce development efforts, even if they have an appetite to test out new ideas. Together, water utilities, other water employers, community partners, and federal and state leaders have a long list of “to-do’s” to further elevate and expand the country’s water workforce opportunity. Perhaps most importantly, water workers are not isolated to only a few areas across the country, but are employed everywhere, speaking to their enormous geographic reach they consistently represent 1 to 2 percent of total employment in the country’s metro areas and rural areas. However, there are tens of thousands of other workers involved in administration, finance, and management roles. Read more about the report’s definitions for water workers on page 12.»Įmployed across 212 different occupations, including plumbers, electricians, and instrument technicians, water workers embody many of the skilled trades. From water utilities, to specialty trade contractors, to heavy and civil engineering construction, these workers carry out specialized activities crucial to the long-term operation and maintenance of the country’s drinking water, wastewater, stormwater, and green infrastructure facilities. In 2016, nearly 1.7 million workers were directly involved in designing, constructing, operating, and governing U.S.

Newton county water and sewerage jobs