New Report Examines the Nation's Workforce Related to Water

<p>Recently, the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution released a comprehensive report on the state of the workforce related to water in the United States—jobs tied to drinking water, wastewater, stormwater, green infrastructure, private wells, septic systems, plumbing, and other fields.  Renewing the Water Workforce: Improving Water Infrastructure and Creating a Pipeline to Opportunity notes that “many of the nation’s water infrastructure assets are in urgent need of repair, maintenance, and restoration,” but that “workers capable of carrying out these efforts are in short supply due to an aging workforce eligible for retirement and the lack of a pipeline for new talent.” </p> <p>Concerns about both the state of water infrastructure and the state of the water workforce are often intertwined.  In February 2018, President Trump released the Administration’s framework for rebuilding infrastructure in America.  The report has several sections related to different types of infrastructure, including water, and it has a separate section dedicated to workforce development.  And in January 2018, Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ), Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) introduced the bipartisan Senate Bill 2346 which notes the needed investment in water infrastructure and seeks to “establish a competitive grant program to assist the development of innovative activities relating to workforce development in the water utility sector.”</p> <p>Surveys by the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that there are currently about 155 million Americans in the workforce.  The Brookings report estimates that about 1.7 million of those workers are directly involved in designing, constructing, operating, and governing U.S. water infrastructure, filling more [...]</p>