US EPA Water Sector Workforce Initiative

The Challenge

Each day, hundreds of thousands of skilled workers ensure that Americans have safe drinking water and essential wastewater services, yet the sector faces a growing recruitment and retention crisis, with roughly one-third of the workforce eligible to retire within a decade. As water systems adopt increasingly advanced technologies, utilities also need workers with specialized technical skills. The sector needed a coordinated national strategy to attract talented individuals and build a robust workforce for the 21st century.

Our Role

Since 2017, Ross Strategic has supported EPA’s Office of Water in building and sustaining America’s Water Sector Workforce Initiative, a collaborative effort with federal partners and major water associations (AWWA, WEF, NACWA, AMWA, ASDWA) to integrate workforce readiness into water infrastructure investment and management. Ross Strategic facilitated the 2018 National Water Sector Workforce Convening, where more than 75 leaders from utilities, associations, federal and state agencies, and educational institutions identified six priority areas that became the blueprint for the Initiative’s formal launch in 2020. Ross Strategic developed a compendium of case studies documenting how utilities across the country are taking innovative steps to recruit, train, and retain talent, and has managed the Workforce Webinar Series since 2019, now 20 sessions strong, averaging over 650 registrations and 350 attendees per event.