Water is Opportunity
Working With Water: A Career Awaits
>> Connect directly with water utilities: For drinking water, wastewater and stormwater utility employment opportunities, resources and training programs in Colorado, visit getintowaterco.org. For national opportunities, check out workforwater.org. Looking for a job with a specific water or wastewater utility? Many offer apprenticeship and internship programs. >> Gain technical training and on-the-job experience: Colorado’s community colleges and water utilities are collaborating to provide technical training for treatment plant operators and technicians. Red Rocks Community College in Lakewood and Pikes Peak Community College in Colorado Springs started training programs a few years ago. West Slope utilities saw a similar need and created a training program with Western Colorado Community College in Grand Junction. The first class from Western will graduate with associate’s degrees in Applied Science in Water Quality Management in 2014. >> Pursue a college degree to be used in water utility work: The rate at which students earn bachelor’s or master’s degrees in science and technical fields has declined in the United States from one in six in 1960 to just one in 10 in 2000, according to the Water Research Foundation. Colorado’s top colleges and universities offer programs in higher education that would give any graduate an edge when applying for a water or wastewater utility job. Check out these top Colorado water programs: >> Metro State University of Denver’s new One World, One Water Center offers an interdisciplinary water studies minor. >> The Water Center at Colorado State University offers water courses or a water minor. >> The Water Center at Colorado Mesa University has degree programs and continuing education courses.
sources for water utility professionals. “We’re losing that knowledge, and we’re losing the people who saw working at utilities as a good, stable profession that supported their family and gave them a sense of well-being that their job makes a difference to others.” To fill open positions, some utilities have established training programs and recruitment websites. Many utilities are specifically in need of operators and technicians. There are also plenty of other jobs in the field, from engineers and project managers to biologists and communication specialists. At Ute Water Conservancy District in the Grand Valley, water treatment operators at the highest certification level are making $57,000 annually with benefits. With a high retention rate—99 percent this past year—the district hasn’t yet needed to recruit. “We’re a steady industry,” says Kalanda Isaac, who works in human resources and risk management at Ute Water. “The pay and benefits are generally quite good, and I think people like knowing that they’ve done something good for people.” —Caitlin Coleman
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Career-Ready Training Opportunities
Stability and reliability—that’s what we expect from our water utility service. Those are also the qualities one finds in water utility sector employment. And, along with the element of social responsibility, those are the qualities water utilities hope will attract the next generation of employees. According to the Water Research Foundation, as much as 31 to 37 percent of the water workforce could retire within the next 10 years. Even without the looming exodus of retiring baby boomers, the water utility sector, which includes both drinking water providers and wastewater treatment, is expected to need additional employees in coming years—up to 45 percent more—in order to adapt to more stringent regulations, add and replace pipelines and treatment plants, and meet the demands of a growing population. Although the high level of expected turnover poses a challenge for utilities, it’s a great opportunity for job seekers. “A lot of people retiring have been there forever,” says Cynthia Lane, who directs sustainability programs for the American Water Works Association, a nonprofit educational association that provides re-
A water utility employee changes out a reverse osmosis filter in a water treatment plant.
Water Recruiters Wear Green The slogan, “If you’re going green, you got to think BLUE,” adorns the cover of a career pamphlet from an American Water Works Association chapter in Texas. Closer to home, the Pueblo Board of Water Works includes “promoting environmental values” on its career brochure. They hope the message, which highlights water utilities’ role in resource stewardship and sustainability, will resonate with the next generation of employees. “The millennial generation reacts to a different message than baby boomers in what is important to them in taking on a job or starting a career,” says Paul Fanning, public relations administrator at the Pueblo Board of Water Works. Fanning uses “green talk” when speaking with younger potential employees as it has a more inspirational and emotional appeal, he says. And why not? “We say that at heart, we are the original green industry,” says Cynthia Lane with the American Water Works Association. While it’s a shift for people to view utility jobs as green or progressive, public and environmental health rest in the hands of water and wastewater utilities, Lane explains. Perhaps blue really could be the new green. —Caitlin Coleman
—Caitlin Coleman 12
Colorado Foundation for Water Education
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