The Water Environment Federation offers scholarships annually to individuals looking to enter or advance in the field of water/wastewater operations. The scholarship applications are open January 15-March 31, 2026. Find out more and apply at www.wef.org/OpScholarship.
Operations Challenge is the water sectors premier skills competition, which culminates every year at WEFTEC. WEFTEC 2025 saw a unprecedented Division I sweep by teams from the Rocky Mountain Water Environment Association. Read the coverage of the 2025 WEFTEC competition in the December 2025 issue of Water Environment & Technology.
The water sector urgently needs more people. Listen to a conversation with Chief Development Officer, Erin Grenz, with AQUALIS, a nationwide premier provider of sustainable water engineering and management for stormwater, wastewater and water quality testing, on how the company is recruiting young professionals to the water sector. Listen to the Words on Water episode.
Looking to enter the water sector and not sure where to start? Take the new Find Your Water Career quiz on WorkforWater.org and be matched with career profiles that align with your skills and interest. Browse the various Career Profiles on the site to learn about the role and what education and training you may …
Applications are now open for the Hach Water Quality Equipment Grant, designed to support high school students in developing research projects for the USA Stockholm Junior Water Prize competition. This grant provides access to high-quality water testing equipment, empowering students to explore real-world environmental challenges through hands-on science. Last year, 20 students received equipment, and …
It is no secret that the water and wastewater sector faces a looming workforce crisis. More than 30% of water resource recovery facility operators are 55 or older, according to Brookings Institution (Washington, D.C.) estimates. With countless decades of institutional knowledge set to leave the frontlines of the field in the coming years, utilities are …
WEFTEC is the largest annual convention and exposition for the water sector. WEFTEC 2025 will take place in Chicago, Illinois from September 27 – October 1 and will offer more than 130 technical sessions, 20 Workshops, 1000 exhibitors, and more than 20,000 water professionals to connect with. Find out more and register at www.weftec.org.
Operator Essentials is a monthly column in Water Environment & Technology (WE&T) magazine that covers “What Every Operator Needs to Know” about hot topics in the industry. Read Operator Essentials in the latest issue of WE&T or browse the archive of articles on AccessWater.
It is no secret that the U.S. water sector has a recruitment problem. According to Black & Veatch’s (Overland Park, Kansas) 2024 Water Report, a whopping 47% of water-sector survey respondents ranked the difficulty of attracting early-career staff to replace retiring veterans as their top challenge. And with approximately one-third of the entire water workforce due …
The flushing of disposable wipes and other products labeled as “flushable” causes serious and costly issues for water resource recovery facilities (WRRFs). After experiencing ongoing issues with unflushables in its wastewater system, regional utility Metro Vancouver (British Columbia, Canada) worked to shift residents’ flushing habits using behavior-change campaigns. Read the full article in the February …