Back to Basics: Water and Wastewater 101 for New Staff and Elected Officials

By Amanda Peele, Project Director

Water and wastewater utilities are complex systems that provide essential, life-sustaining services. They increasingly face significant and mounting challenges with supporting and preparing utility managers in the face of workforce trends that result in high personnel turnover, loss of institutional knowledge, and new decision-makers transitioning into leadership roles without a traditional background in local government or utility management.

To help utilities tackle this challenge, the UNC School of Government Environmental Finance Center is relaunching our free “Back to Basics: Water and Wastewater 101 for New Staff and Elected Officials” webinar series this fall. Our goal is to provide new staff and elected officials with a clear, approachable introduction to the essentials of utility management. The series breaks down complex topics into practical takeaways that enable confident decision-making, even during periods of turnover.

Register to attend here.

The Need to Support New Staff and Elected Officials

Personnel turnover is a fact of life for water and wastewater utilities. Staff transitions such as retirements, job changes, or shifting responsibilities are common, and new elected officials are chosen every few years. One person may also play multiple roles, especially in small systems, and each time someone leaves, they often take a lot of institutional knowledge with them. With these foundations of experience and expertise constantly shifting, making decisions about a utility’s finances, asset management, and strategic planning can become harder, slower, and riskier.

Furthermore, many people stepping into utility management roles don’t have a background in utilities or local government. A study by the UNC School of Government found that nearly half of city and county managers entered through non-traditional routes, bringing diverse professional experiences from nonprofit work, private sector roles, and state or federal government positions. This richness of perspective is valuable, but it also means there’s a steeper learning curve for understanding how to manage a utility.

The recent “Supporting State Employees” report from the NC Office of State Budget & Management (OSBM) shows that the state faces substantial workforce challenges, including a competitive labor market, high job turnover, more employees reaching retirement age than ever before, and difficulty recruiting and retaining qualified employees. For example, first-year turnover among state employees was 33.7%, and the hiring rate for state and local government employment was significantly lower than in the private sector. Water and wastewater utilities, often embedded in local government and reliant on public service staff, feel these pressures, too.

All this underscores that the more we build and maintain a shared understanding of the basics of utility management, the better equipped utilities will be to adapt to these challenges and maintain stability during personnel transitions, enabling them to continue delivering reliable services.

How the “Back to Basics” Webinar Series Can Help New Staff and Newly Elected Officials

This seven-session webinar series helps new staff and elected officials, especially those with non-utility backgrounds, quickly get up to speed on the essentials of utility management. Establishing this common understanding builds consistency and continuity through leadership transitions, supports personnel retention and effectiveness by reducing the burden of “learning on the job,” which is common in positions with high turnover and vacancies, and strengthens the capacity of public enterprise utilities as part of the broader state and local government workforce, which is under pressure from labor shortages, retirements, and rising expectations.

New utility managers equipped with this knowledge can make informed decisions from the outset, helping them avoid costly mistakes or delays that could negatively impact utility financial health, regulatory compliance, and community service.

Practical Details

• The series is free to attend.
• Each Tuesday, join us for a one-hour virtual session that introduces the core responsibilities of managing a public water or wastewater utility: budgeting, audits, rate setting, customer communication, navigating and managing external funding, and asset management. Each session will provide space for follow-up discussion and questions.
• Guest experts from the water sector will bring real-world insight, helping connect theory and practice.
• Sessions will be hosted on Zoom. One-time registration is required, after which registered participants can attend any session, so there’s no need to sign up for specific ones. We encourage attendees to keep the initial registration details on hand, such as pinning the confirmation email to the top of your inbox or adding the meeting link and information to your personal calendar.
• Sessions will not be recorded. We believe live discussion and interaction are central to learning, and this format encourages engagement.
• Attendees will receive presentation slides for later reference.

Schedule

All times are in Eastern Time.

• Week 1: Tuesday, October 20, 8:30 – 9:30 am
  • Topic: An Overview of Utilities as Public Enterprises
• Week 2: Tuesday, October 27, 8:30 – 9:30 am
  • Topic: Financials
• Week 3: Tuesday, November 3, 8:30 – 9:30 am
  • Topic: Rates
• Week 4: Tuesday, November 10, 8:30 – 9:30 am
  • Topic: Customer Communication
• Week 5: Tuesday, November 17, 8:30 – 9:30 am
  • Topic: Funding
• Week 6: Tuesday, December 1, 8:30 – 9:30 am
  • Topic: Water and Wastewater Grant Compliance
• Week 7: Tuesday, December 8, 8:30 – 9:30 am
  • Topic: Asset Management